To Keep on Rising
by Sadhelm2
Summary: Darkness gathers across the digital world as new Chosen rise to defend it. But unseen foes lurk in both worlds and the older Chosen will soon find themselves embroiled in the conflict, regardless of whether they want to or not. And whilst all this occurs, the waters continue to rise. Sequel to The Teacher of All Things.
1. Prologue: Worlds in Peril

**A/N: Here we go folks, sorry for the long wait! Exams are now over so I can continue writing!**

 **Here's the Prologue for the sequel to ToAT: To Keep On Rising. This prologue is identical to the one at the end of The Teacher Of All Things, so if you've read that you can just continue on to chapter one.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.**

 **Also, trigger warning for drowning for this chapter.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

Gilda was what some would refer to as a simple woman. She didn't want for much, merely being content with what life had given her and what she had in her small house. She rarely wanted for much beyond her radio programs and anything more would often involve taking her old, battered car down to the nearest town, about twenty miles away, to do her grocery shopping.

She had no family and little in her possession outside of her house, car and the land (untold acres of fen) she had inherited from her wealthy but distant mother. Although she lived alone apart from her old dog, Gilda was happy in life and wanted nothing more than to live the rest of it out as quietly as possible.

It was one misty morning accompanied by birdsong that she came downstairs to feed her dog his breakfast and just so happened to glance out of her kitchen window. Gilda blinked once, then again. Was her eyesight failing her in her old age or was there something on her land that wasn't there yesterday?

What looked like some sort of tower had appeared downhill on her land, but the mist made it hard to see clearly.

Gilda quickly put on her coat and shoes, opened the backdoor and shivered at the harsh cold wind that rattled her weary bones. Grumbling, she made the trek down the hill and into the part of the valley that she owned, taking little notice of the frantic cheeping of nearby birds.

She knew that people had been trying to build on her property for years, as people were wont to do, but there had been no noise of construction, no phone calls or letters that she'd received about some sort of spire being built on her property.

'I bet Venkmann was responsible for this,' she thought to herself, as she marched towards the imposing structure ahead of her. 'He's always had it out for me, wanting to build a golf course or such nonsense. Who's going to come play golf around these parts I ask you? Well he's gone too far this time, I'll hang him up by his unmentionables for this!'

She clutched tightly at her coat as the mist seemed to thicken and the wind picked up. Suddenly a sense of apprehension grew within Gilda. An ancient instinct that told her to run back to her house, to turn around and get away as quickly as possible.

With a practised stubbornness she ignored it and continued down into the valley to get a better look.

Was it her imagination or was it even harder to see than it had been from her kitchen window? The mist had gotten thicker and her coat was now soaking wet. Cursing loudly, she swore to give Venkmann an even bigger bollocking than she had initially planned, before she suddenly found herself at the base of the tower.

It was like the rest of the world suddenly didn't matter. The Spire stood over three times as tall as her simple home and was darker than a moonless sky. The whole valley seemed frozen in time, the wind vanishing, the birds abruptly silent; yet the cold remained greater than ever.

Teeth chattering, Gilda put out an un-gloved hand and tentatively touched the Spire.

Like lightning she spun around, eyes wide.

"Who's there?!" she demanded of the mist. "You playin' tricks on an old woman?! I heard you whisperin'!"

Silence.

"Come out right now!"

Nothing.

She took a cautious step forward, lamenting that she'd left her shotgun in the house.

 _Splash!_

Her leg was submerged in black water; the exact same colour as the Spire. Breathing hard, she spun back round towards the Dark Spire. It was still there just like before, but somehow... more so. More real, harder to ignore.

Something moved beneath the water, brushed against her leg. Something slimy and long and ever so _cold..._

Gilda turned and ran. The splashes echoed horribly. A crescendo of panic as she tried to run, but the water was getting deeper. She couldn't move any faster!

There was no escape.

Something moved in the water behind her, something _huge._

She panicked, the water was everywhere! Her hands were blue with cold, she couldn't think, she couldn't breathe. Something grabbed her leg and pulled her down and she took in a lungful of water. And then...

And then there was nothing...

The sound of a phone ringing echoed throughout the empty house, accompanied by the barking of a hungry dog.

They soon fell silent.

* * *

He was unremarkable. Barely indistinguishable from any of the thousands of other businessmen in suits this fine spring morning in Tokyo. His expensive black suit and tie were immaculate; like they'd just come off the display mannequin that very morning, not a wrinkle out of place.

The illusion was completed with the briefcase and sunglasses he also wore, hiding his startling blue eyes from anyone who could note them down. Alas he could do little about his blonde hair.

The man walked briskly up the stairs and into the huge building in front of him. It was one of the many pristine glass and steel skyscrapers that dotted the skyline of Tokyo, drawing no more glances than any other of the impressive monuments.

'Fitting for its purpose,' he thought smugly, adjusting his black tie a little as he continued forwards.

He nodded briefly to the receptionist, who buzzed him through another set of double doors and down a corridor with wooden panelling. Two large men in suits immediately took up positions on either side of the man and guided him towards a metal doorway hooked up to a strange machine manned by another suited man.

The blonde man put his briefcase on the conveyer belt and stepped through the metal frame. It beeped, as he knew it would.

"Search him," the man behind the machine stated.

He put up his hands as he was patted down by the two men. One of them held up a recording device and spoke aloud the date and time as the other took his jacket and rifled through the pockets.

"One pen, black," the security guard stated, taking the item in question out of the blonde man's jacket. "A wallet containing ten thousand yen and three credit cards, along with identification. A set of five keys, all unmarked, a receipt from BurgerWorld for a double cheeseburger dated earlier this morning-"

The other security guard chuckled quietly.

"And finally a small metal lighter," he clicked it, "broken, has 'Akio' written on the side."

The other man laughed again; the blonde man didn't as much as twitch.

"Alright sir, you're clear," the guard declared, handing him back all his belongings.

"Thank you, keep the receipt," the blonde man spoke, picking up his briefcase and continuing on his way. He was barely able to hide his disdain at this new level of security. He had rarely been required to enter this building and its updated security had caught him off-guard.

He strode forwards into an elevator, the doors shutting behind him and took out one of the keys from his inside pocket. He unlocked the hidden panel in the elevator and then keyed in the seven-digit security code he'd been specifically issued for this visit.

The lift grumbled for a moment and then began to slowly move downwards. The blonde man let out a sigh, the only hint of emotion he could allow himself to show today. This was the final pitch, the moment that would make or break his dream. His eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses as he clutched tightly at an object in his left pocket.

The moment that would decide whether humanity survived the coming year or not.

It was the kind of discussion that no one would have thought would be taking place a couple of years ago; no matter what some people may have claimed. It was unthinkable that monsters like these could truly exist, could truly appear out of nowhere. He shivered at the memory, the nightmare, of the sky tearing open and monsters raining down on the horrified people below.

He shook himself free, he needed to remain calm and composed. He couldn't let his passion interfere and make him look like a less than suitable candidate for what he had proposed.

There was a ping and the door opened onto a large seating area with an imposing pair of doors at the other end. A red-headed woman sitting nearby caught sight of the man and smiled.

"Mitsuo!" she greeted, walking out from behind the desk towards him. "Glad you made it."

"I wouldn't miss this," Mitsuo responded, not ceasing in his stride. "Not for anything. Are they finished in there?"

She nodded.

"They should just be finishing up the last of the videos you sent them," she said, keeping pace with him towards a final set of doors. "Do you think you can convince them?"

"If they aren't already convinced, Miss Ohtori," he responded gravely. "Then nothing I can say will change their minds."

She quietly opened the double doors into a darkened meeting room where a large screen was playing. Mitsuo leant against the wall as Miss Ohtori left the room. The video was almost over.

"Up the stairs!" a woman's panicked voice could be heard, accompanied by the sound of smashing glass and an animalistic growling.

Mitsuo crossed his arms, resisting his usual habit to make some form of noise when he was stressed. The four people in this room needed to see this, to know what these creatures were capable of, what they intended to do.

The footage swung backwards to show what was chasing them. Jittering up and down as it was; it was a good shot. The snarling orange-furred beast behind them was clearly unmistakable for anything else as it tried to keep it's footing on the polished concrete stairs, before the cameraman had to turn to follow the other three down a final corridor.

"Through here!" the woman yelled again, the camera turning and letting the audience get a glimpse out of the window of the TV station.

Mitsuo watched the four figures seated around the table carefully, to see their reactions. It was difficult in the dark, but if the shivers he saw whenever the beast snarled or roared were any indication, he was getting through to them.

Two of them, the sweaty man and the large man, were wealthy independent business owners, each billionaires in their own right, with investments in communications and the advanced computing software he would need in order for his project to be a possibility.

The other two, an old man and a middle-aged woman, represented the government's interest in the project. The events of the last year had shaken the entire world and no one had solid answers that the public were seeking. Countless weeks had been spent in complete panic at hastily set UN meetings as well as internal affairs and possible defence measures against this happening again.

As the video continued, he let his mind wander a little. Back again to that day when everything they thought they knew about the world was turned upside down. Monsters attacking Tokyo? It was like something out of a movie, a fantasy; an impossibility.

'But the dead don't lie,' Mitsuo thought to himself, his hand unknowingly creeping back to his pocket to grip his lighter.

Finally, the chase ended with the group of four entering another room and slamming a huge bolt across the door. The cameraman seemed to sag, along with the other three people in the shot.

"Not as young... as I used to be..." one haggard-looking man wheezed.

"Don't worry," a much deeper voice panted as the camera was held aloft. "I got the footage-"

It ended there.

The lights were quickly turned on, revealing the three men and one woman sitting in the chairs, all in suits. Mitsuo cleared his throat, causing four ashen faces to turn towards him.

"Ah, I see you've arrived," one of the businessmen spoke, wiping the sweat from his massive forehead with a handkerchief. "I-I didn't notice you come in."

"I didn't want to disturb you," Mitsuo responded.

"Well decided," the middle-aged woman spoke briskly. "I take it you've brought everything you need this time?"

"Of course," he answered the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications coolly, opening up his briefcase and passing out papers to the four of them.

Mitsuo then walked up to the head of the table as the four skim-read over the documents he'd given them. He had to focus on not showing his utter disdain for these people. He knew how these things worked. They had likely already come to their decision, the rest was just formality.

Nevertheless, he could not afford to slip up here.

"Everyone, I believe I've made it clear that the threat we face from these creatures is very real," he began. "Property has been destroyed, people have been killed and Odaiba was nearly annihilated. It could all happen again at any moment and we have no idea if it's possible or not. We still have little idea what these creatures even are and our efforts to counter them thus far have been... ineffective."

Silence from the four. All of them could remember the invasion of Odaiba and the lives that were lost, the people that were never found. How only months afterwards several more monsters arrived, had practically frozen Tokyo Bay solid and nearly destroyed the island again, before vanishing completely.

"However we do believe that we've figured out where they come from," Mitsuo continued, studying their reactions carefully. "And the answer we've discovered could fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. No one could forget how the sky was torn open after the invasion. People all around the world saw it, millions of witnesses all at the same time. They all saw another world mirroring our own."

"You believe that is where these monsters came from?" the Communications Minister asked sceptically, looking at the papers in front of her. "And not a separate event?"

"I do," Mitsuo replied. "Monster sightings increased exponentially all over the world whilst the anomaly occurred. The anomaly also disrupted global communications as well as nearby electronic systems; an effect the monsters themselves also exhibit, albeit on a lesser scale. The monsters came from another world, another dimension we've designated 'Yuggoth' and arrived here on Earth for reasons we do not yet understand."

"You don't believe it was a simple invasion?" the other government official asked, the State Secretary of Defence.

"For the most part the creatures were uncoordinated, their aims a mystery. The only coordinated invasion seemed to be in Odaiba. Many there were rounded up by what they described as 'ghosts', but for what purpose they didn't know-"

And so it continued for two more hours as he summarised their findings and objectives, whilst answering any questions the four had.

Mitsuo could practically see it in these people's faces. The fears, the excitement of discovery, how they could possibly profit off of these creatures and anomalies. He had to prevent his lip from curling in disgust at their short-sightedness. Unfortunately, he had to cater to these people's whims for now and appealing to their patriotism and greed seemed to be doing the job so far.

Once he had the funding from these wealthy independents as well as permission from the government, then he could begin his true work in earnest.

"So I believe the old SIGINT system could easily be repurposed for such a project," he said, looking at his audience. "It would be implicating for Japan if we were caught with such a powerful system before the anomaly. The UN in particular would ask us many awkward questions-"

He caught a couple of winces from the Ministers.

"But with the recent revelations it would be the perfect time to put it to a new use, one far more understandable and potentially even more profitable. This is the mark of a new era, a new frontier and our country has been blessed with an unprecedented advantage in seizing it. It is imperative that we do everything within our power to stay in the lead and reap the greatest rewards, before it's too late."

A few minutes later and he was waiting outside as the four 'reached a decision'. More likely they were discussing what information they had gleamed from him and how that could be best used for their own goals.

Miss Ohtori joined him in waiting as the four inside reached some sort of verdict.

"How did it look?" she asked as he fiddled anxiously with his lighter.

"They seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation, as well as the benefits if we are the first to reach the digital world, Yuggoth."

"But?"

"But," he repeated, with only a slight hint of exasperation. "They're only interested in how they themselves will profit from it. It's like they don't see the inherent dangers these creatures possess."

"They probably expect you to deal with it."

"True," Mitsuo smirked briefly, before frowning. "But there are still things we don't know the answers to. They might interpret that as a sign of incompetence on my part."

"You've worked harder than anyone to understand these things," Ohtori scoffed, before fixing him with a kind smile. "Just because you've not got all the answers, doesn't mean you're incompetent."

It was strange, how such a simple reassurance could ease the anxiety he was feeling. Feeling grateful, Mitsuo spoke,

"Riley, I-"

The doors opened, sealing his lips for the moment as Mitsuo was called back than five minutes later he strode out again with his briefcase full and a powerful assurance in his stride as he entered the elevator to finally leave this building. Miss Ohtori quickly joined him and she could see the lightness in his step.

"Everything has been granted," he said, once the doors had closed. "And I have been appointed Director of the project. We can finally fight back against these monsters."

"Congratulations, Mitsuo," she smiled coyly, a weight in her heart vanishing at the news.

"Thank you," he replied, truly grateful for her support. "I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help."

"It was no trouble," she said, before her smile faded. "We all have our reasons."

"Just be glad we can make a difference now," Mitsuo stated. "We still have a lot of work ahead of us; people to train, to recruit, as well as dealing with those digital monsters themselves."

"Getting tired just thinking about it?" she teased, just as the elevator opened again.

"Not on your life," he smirked, before striding forwards. "A new enemy of humanity has appeared and it'll be us who put them down. We'll lead the world forwards into a new age and avenge those who have already lost their lives."

He gripped his lighter tightly.

"We will save the world from these monsters and in the process save this world from ourselves. Thanks to what has happened today, this has all become possible!"

Mitsuo Yamaki walked proudly out of the building and into his future.

"Project Hypnos is underway," he spoke. "And we have work to do."

* * *

 **A/N: The stage is now set for season 2. Please leave your thoughts and comments and tell me what you think.  
**

 **Hope you enjoyed! Now on to the first Chapter!  
**

 **Edited for Grammar 03/08/15: Thank you Captain Nice Hardrive  
**


	2. Chapter 1: A New Threat

**A/N: The first chapter of the sequel to The Teacher of All Things, To Keep On Rising. I know many of you have been waiting patiently for this and I thank you for it. I hope that it lives up to your expectations.  
**

 **Also to anyone who hasn't read The Teacher of All Things, some parts of this story won't be as clear without having read it, but feel free to do so anyway and tell me what you think!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **A New Threat  
**

Hikari Yagami woke up in a cold sweat. Panting hard, she grasped desperately for her Crest on her bedside table. Its familiar weight in her hand calmed her down as she sat up and slowly regained her bearings.

She was safe in her room; there were no monsters to be seen. No evil vampires trying to kill her, no psychotic clowns or monstrous gods and robots. No dark creatures approaching through a fog; trying to drown her in cold water. The Crest of Light glowed faintly as she held it to her chest, almost like it was responding to her pounding heart. Kari liked to imagine that it was Gatomon's way of telling her to be strong and that they would meet again someday. Was this what it was like for Tai all those years ago? Before he knew for certain that his first partner was gone?

If it wasn't for the reassuring warmth coming from her Crest, her very soul, she would be in doubt as well. She couldn't imagine what losing Gatomon would be like. Were the others this worried as well? She knew Tai was, although he would never admit it.

Kari leant back against her headboard and let the soft light soothe her troubles, at least for a little while.

After she had calmed down, Kari sighed. At least her brother hadn't seen this. Now that they were both getting older, Dad had finally cleared out his barely-used office and now the siblings slept next door to each other. Her own room was a luxury she hadn't been used to and best of all she got to keep the bunk bed whilst Tai got stuck with a boring second-hand bed.

Well there wasn't any point in going back to sleep right now. Stretching, Kari stood up and decided to quickly go shower before Tai inevitably used up all the hot water again.

About ten minutes later she had washed, gotten dressed and had breakfast. She quickly did a check, did she have everything? Books and pens for class? Her camera for photography club? Satisfied that everything was ready she knocked on her brother's door.

"Tai, get up! Didn't you say you had early morning soccer practice to get too?!" she yelled.

There was a loud grunt and a muffled crash that signified he was up.

"I'm leaving for school now! You'd better hurry up if you don't want to be late!" she called out as she slipped her shoes on and reached for the front door.

"But what 'bout breakfast?!" her brother's half asleep head asked, peeking out from his bedroom door.

"You know how to cook!" Kari sang, before leaving. "See you later, Tai!"

"Kari-!"

Kari grinned as she imagined the flabbergasted look on her brother's face. That's what he got for staying up so late.

The way to school was as boring as usual. It was the first day of a new school year so there would undoubtedly be new classmates to meet, new teachers to deal with, and also...

"Hey, Kari!" a familiar voice yelled from behind. "Kari! KARI!"

"Hello, Davis," she responded, as the boy caught up to her. "How was your summer?"

"It was awesome!" Davis said, practically shoving his smiling face in front of hers. "I knew soccer camp would be worth it! So much better than cram school! Tai is really awesome at it; like the other kids could barely even touch him!"

Kari gave him a look. She'd been to a few of her brother's soccer games and he was hardly the master Davis described him as. Although her brother had apparently left a hell of an impression on the younger boy.

"And you want to be just like him, I guess?" she asked, idly flicking the goggles around his neck. "Those are new. You've also grown out your hair since I last saw you."

"Heh, y-you noticed?" he stammered. "I mean, I'm sorry I didn't get in touch as much during the summer as I probably should have. I-I mean not that I wanted to touch you- I MEAN, er... how have you been?"

Kari felt the beginnings of a smile tug at the corner of her mouth, he hadn't changed a bit.

"I've been fine, Davis," she said, before lightly punching his arm. "And relax, it's not been that long since we last spoke."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, cheering up instantly. "You nervous? First day of a whole new year!"

"A little, but we know almost everyone so not too much."

"Don't worry, Kari! Your old pal, Davis, will personally introduce you to everyone new."

"Please don't," she said, happy to be back in a familiar routine. "And how would you know them?"

"I just happen to make friends fast, you'll see! No one can resist my charms."

"Charm? I thought you just wore them down like the tide."

"Hey!"

They chatted and caught up until finally they reached the school. Davis waved goodbye as he had to meet up with his soccer club whilst Kari went to photography. She could honestly say it was her favourite thing to do. Capturing the image of people when they were happy and at their most natural. Particularly if they were doing what they loved. You never knew when a good shot would come up; so Kari always endeavoured to keep her camera on her at all times like her mentor taught her.

She opened the door to the photography classroom and peeked around the corner.

"Hello, Miss Bui?"

"Ah Yagami, I'm so glad to see you've decided to join us for another year!" the middle-aged women said, a kind smile on her face. "And please call me Kimi at club meetings. How was your summer?"

"Not as exciting as yours I bet," Kari smiled in return as she took a seat. "I'm not old enough to go travelling on my own yet."

"Don't worry dear, it'll be well worth the wait," Kimi assured her.

"Where did you go on your summer break, Miss Bui?" a student with purple hair asked.

"Well I went back to America for a couple of weeks, before spending a month in Africa-"

Kari tuned her mentor out. She would often go on and on about the places she visited if given enough prompting. The photography club didn't have many members, but Miss Bui kept it going nevertheless. It was one of those little pleasures in Kari's life that helped her get up in the morning. It was with some surprise that she noticed a couple of new faces in the club today.

Of course, this was only one of the many unusual things she would experience today. Whilst Miss Bui talked to the others, the girl sitting next to Kari turned to her.

"So what's your name?" the purple haired girl asked. "I'm Miyako Inoue, although people just call me Yolei."

"Nice to meet you, Yolei. I'm Hikari Yagami, but my friends just call me Kari."

Yolei's smile seemed a little strained at that.

"Oh, your brother's Taichi Yagami isn't he? My sister, Chizuru, won't stop talking about him."

"Um well, Tai is pretty well known," Kari murmured, before changing the subject. "So what made you want to come to photography club?"

"Just thought I'd try it out. I haven't really found a club I enjoy yet; this is just the latest one I'm trying."

"Well I hope you do enjoy it."

"I doubt I will, but thanks."

Kari pursed her lips.

"Just give it a try, you might enjoy it."

"Believe me, I've heard that from practically every club I've joined. You see my parents own a store, and since both my sisters have club stuff to do, I'm the one who has to go home and help run the store. It's so annoying-"

Mercifully before she could continue, the warning bell rang, which signalled the start of their first lesson. Miss Bui quickly dismissed them back to their home classrooms in order to start the day. Kari quickly said goodbye to Yolei and ran to her classroom.

She went and sat down in her designated seat just as Davis came and sat down in the seat next to her. He was wearing his goggles on his hair, much like Tai used to do, and idly fiddling with them.

"Hey, Kari," he said idly. "Do you think I look like Taichi?"

"My brother? I mean kind of? You do dress quite like he used to," she admitted. "What brought this on?"

"Er, some guy mistook me for him earlier," Davis said, tilting his chair back. "I thought it was pretty stupid since he's like a foot taller than me."

"Maybe if you included his hair," she muttered, leaning her head against her hand.

"He did say my goggles were pretty cool though," Davis continued with a smile.

"Alright class," the teacher clapped, gaining everyone's attention. "We have a few new students joining us today."

He gestured towards the collection of nervous looking children standing next to him.

"Please make them feel welcome here and get along together," the teacher droned, about as convinced with his own rhetoric as the rest of them were.

Kari tuned the teacher out and let her eyes wander over the new kids; briefly making a note to learn their names at some point during the day.

Then she found her eyes drawn inexplicably to one boy in particular. He had blonde hair hidden under some sort of weird fishing hat, as well as bright blue eyes and a kind yet familiar face. She sat up straighter, unable to stop a wide smile breaking out. The boy seemed to notice her at around about the same time. His eyes widened as well before he broke out into a grin that matched hers.

"Please Takeru, why not take a seat next to Hikari Yagami over there," the teacher pointed.

Tk for his part, wasted no time in sitting next to his old friend. The two shared a quiet smile and privately agreed to talk more later. Kari felt herself relax a little.

Today was turning out much better than she had thought.

* * *

"Are you serious?!" Tai screamed as he sprinted away from a rabid Monochromon. "This day is so much worse than I thought!"

How did falling out of bed and getting yelled at by his soccer coach for being late turn into this?! Being chased through random forests in the digital world by a pissed off Monochromon wasn't how Tai enjoyed spending his spare time. There wasn't even any real warning! Last time some seriously weird stuff happened, but this time there was practically nothing!

His digivice had gone off in the middle of mathematics, startling him awake, and getting him yelled at by the teacher. After getting yelled at some more, since he didn't know how to make it stop, he narrowly managed to avoid getting it confiscated and instead ran to the computer room. Upon getting too close to one of the monitors, his digivice had glowed and Tai suddenly found himself in the middle of a forest. He then barely had time to notice the random television just sitting in the ground before a Monochromon had burst through the trees and he had been forced to sprint for his life.

Not that he wasn't glad to be back; this still beat doing mathematics with Mr Fujiyama.

There was probably something wrong with him.

Tai ran for about ten more minutes before the furious roars of the Monochromon faded into the distance. Soon all he could hear was himself panting so he stopped and waited. Tai leant against a tree in order to catch his breath and take scope of the situation. He was back in the digital world that was for certain. The weird trees and eerily silent forests as well as the Monochromon assured him of that.

Of course if he was back in the digital world that usually meant it was in some sort of danger. Danger that he would need to get rid of.

Well at least this time it lasted four years instead of one.

Tai groaned, holding his head in his hands and cursing his impulsiveness. Why didn't he think for a moment? Going near computers was just asking to get sucked into something without warning!

He was unprepared for this. He was still wearing his school uniform! He certainly didn't have any supplies or anything to help him survive in the digital world and he seemed to be on his own for moment. At least he had his crest and digivice with him, but they wouldn't be of any help if he was on his own.

Why did it just pull him in without any warning?! What about his partner? Where was Agumon?!

His breathing slowed. Was-was he going to get a new partner? Was that what the digivice had been indicating? Had Agumon...

"Tai!" a voice called out, making him look up.

His vision was filled with yellow, before a heavy weight knocked him backwards onto the ground. Dazed, Tai blinked at the pair of large green tearful eyes staring into his own.

"Agumon!" Tai greeted, hugging the rookie digimon back with everything he had. "You're ok, you're alive!"

The rookie just laughed in the embrace as Tai buried his head in his shoulder.

"I told you I'd be fine," Agumon smiled. "I-Are you crying?"

"No, shut up!"

"You are, aren't you?"

"Don't get cheeky with me!" Tai said, punching his grinning friend lightly on the arm.

"It's ok, Tai. I'm doing well. I even have your cloak, see?"

Tai blinked, not wiping tears of relief from his eyes, as he looked properly at his partner. His old yellow cloak was now hanging proudly off of the rookie's rather broad shoulders. It seemed to fit Agumon rather well actually...

"Did you cut it?" Tai asked, noticing its shortened length.

Agumon blushed.

"Well I wanted to look after it properly, but it was so long I kept tripping over it during fights. So Gomamon offered to cut it for me so that it fit," he explained sheepishly. "I hope you're not too annoyed."

Tai smiled.

"No way. It's your cloak now, you can do what you want with it," he admitted. "So what's been happening in the digital world lately?"

Agumon's smile faded at that and he clambered off of his partner. Tai blinked as he stood up.

"It's another human," Agumon said tersely. "He's-"

A sudden roar interrupted him. Trees parted to reveal the Monochromon that was chasing Tai earlier. It snarled and snorted, glaring angrily at the two in front of them, its eyes glowing menacingly.

"Friend of yours?" Agumon asked, moving in front of his partner.

"Yeah, he wouldn't leave me alone," Tai responded grinning, before turning to face the Monochromon with his partner. "Hey there buddy, I see you've found me. Don't worry, this time I have a friend here for you to play with, his name's Greymon!"

 _BZZZT!_

Tai looked at his digivice. The screen that should have been glowing was instead covered in static. He looked at his very Not-Greymon partner.

"Greymon!" he repeated, holding his digivice aloft.

 _BZZZT!_

He looked at Agumon, who shrugged.

"Hmm," Tai said, looking at his digivice, then at the Monochromon, then back to his digivice.

"WarGreymon?"

 _BZZZT!_

The Monochromon charged.

Screaming, they dived to the side and barely avoided the champion as he charged past them and into the trees. Barely avoiding the falling timber, they scrambled to their feet. They ran to the other end of the clearing just as the Monochromon reappeared, growling and stomping its feet.

"So Agumon, anything you want to tell me?"

"I don't know why it isn't working!" Agumon said, standing in front of Tai. "I've eaten recently."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Hey, I'm not a glutton!"

Tai smiled despite the danger. He just couldn't believe after so long he was back here doing this. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the Monochromon. Was it causing this somehow? It didn't seem intelligent enough or powerful enough to do such a thing on its own.

"Is there anyone else nearby?"

Agumon thought for a moment.

"Well I saw Gatomon and Patamon a while ago, but I don't know where they are now!"

Tai grit his teeth.

"Then it looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way!" he said. "Ready, Agumon?"

"Always!"

The Monochromon opened its mouth, fire burning in its gullet. Tai quickly moved out of the way as Agumon squared up and unleashed his own flame.

"Volcanic Strike!"

"Pepper Breath!"

The two balls of fire met in the middle and exploded against each other. Tai watched in astonishment as Agumon leapt away from the Monochromon's charge and fired into its side, sending it reeling.

'He's become so much stronger,' Tai thought. 'Maybe he won't need my help for this fight.'

The Monochromon attacked again and shot more fireballs at the rookie. Agumon fired his own barrage, but this time he was unable to match his opponent's strength. Two collided, but Agumon was forced to leap away from the last one which struck a nearby tree, causing it to burst into data amongst the flames.

As the champion turned to keep the dodging rookie in its sights, Tai noticed it had a strange black collar around its neck. One that he had never seen any other Monochromon have. His mind went over it. Did it belong to another digimon? Had it been enslaved somehow? Was it a possible weak point?

It wasn't important. For now they had to focus on beating the creature.

"Remember with Gorillamon!" Tai called out to his partner. "Your attack is quicker, wait for the perfect moment!"

Agumon looked confused for a moment, before determination filled his expression. He dived to the side to avoid the Monochromon's charge then sprang up, ready to retaliate.

It opened its mouth as fire built up within it.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon yelled, sending a powerful shot straight towards the monster's open mouth.

It fired, which met Agumon's blast whilst still inside its mouth. The explosion covered it in flames as it shrieked. Agumon ran over towards Tai, taking the moment to recover before his opponent attacked again.

"Well done, Agumon!" Tai said. "We've nearly got it! Just need to aim low where it has no armour and-"

"Wait, Tai!" he panted. "It has- it has a Dark Ring! We can't kill it!"

"What?"

"It's-it's being controlled by the Emperor! We have to attack the ring!"

Tai blinked, before frowning.

"Ok then fine," he said. "But you're explaining everything afterwards."

"Deal."

The Monochromon seemed to have recovered. Smoke was pouring from its mouth as it staggered towards them, murder in its eyes.

"The collar's around its neck," Tai said. "If I get its attention it should be easy for you to hit it."

"You'll be putting yourself in danger," Agumon protested, not taking his eyes off the champion.

"I trust you, Agumon. You won't miss. Now bring it on!"

This would be decided in a moment. Tai moved towards the champion, making sure it's attention was on him. It roared and charged forwards.

He waited and chose his moment. Too early and it would simply turn and smash him; too late and he would be hit head on. Using every minute of his soccer diving skills, Tai leapt to the left and barely avoided getting crushed by the rampaging monster.

Its right side exploded as he landed and the Monochromon lost its footing. It skidded across the grass, before rolling over onto its back. Tai slowly got to his feet, just as Agumon reached him. He waved his partner off as they stared at the now ring less Monochromon.

It blinked as it slowly stood up before groaning and falling back to the ground.

"What happened?" it murmured with a voice incredibly hoarse. "Why does everything hurt?"

Tai winced, feeling guilty despite himself.

"Um, hello there!" he greeted. "You were being controlled by a, er... Dark Ring?"

"It was the Digimon Emperor," Agumon explained, much more succinctly. "He had you enslaved, but we destroyed the Dark Ring and freed you."

"Oh, well thank you," the champion gasped. "I'm so happy."

"What was the last thing you remember?" Tai asked. "Did you see the Emperor?"

The Monochromon looked at him as if he was stupid.

"The last thing I remember seeing was this big tower. Next thing I knew, bam! I was here with my mouth feeling like I'd just swallowed a Meramon!"

"A tower? Could you tell us where that was?" Agumon questioned.

"Probably round about that way," the Monochromon said, pointing with its horn. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going the other way. You humans bring nothing but trouble and I don't want to get involved."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Tai yelled at the retreating digimon, as Agumon grabbed his arm. "I've saved this world more times than you can count, you sorry excuse for a dinosaur!"

"Bite me!"

"Screw you!"

"Tai!" Agumon yelled, dragging his partner along with him. "Let it go, we need to deal with the Emperor."

Blood pounding through his ears, Tai reluctantly backed off and joined Agumon on the walk to this 'tower'.

"What was wrong with that guy? We've done nothing but help this world, where does he get off being such a jerk?"

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that, Tai," Agumon admitted.

"How?"

"Well, Tai. It's because of the Emperor. He's a human..."

* * *

"Tai's missing?!" Kari gasped.

It was lunchtime and she had been called into the Principals office only to see her brother's form teacher as well. Tk had followed her and was waiting outside the door

"Yes," sighed Mr Fujiyama. "He hasn't been seen since first period, when I excused to him to go turn off his phone. Your brother isn't usually the type to just skip lessons like that. Do you happen to know why he might have done so? I know he had a small bout with depression when he was younger, but he seemed perfectly fine today."

"I don't know, sir," Kari admitted honestly. "I don't know where he might have gone. He never tells me about this kind of stuff."

That last part came out a little more bitterly than she had intended. But then a thought occurred to her. It was something Tai had mentioned some time ago, but really hadn't said much about. Although she doubted that would be the reason why he would suddenly disappear and he probably wouldn't appreciate her sharing it with others.

"I've already called your parents," the Principal stated. "They're returning home in case that's where he went. In the meantime, if your brother contacts you please tell us."

"Th-there might be something that's bothering him actually, sir," Kari spoke up.

She left the room a few minutes later, her head buzzing, unsure if she'd said the right thing or not. Outside the door Tk was there, arguing with Davis over something.

"Well I'm telling you I just don't like it!" Davis said heatedly. "So back off!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tk replied. "But it's not up to you who I talk too."

"Hey guys," she said, gaining there attention. "Let's go."

Kari walked past the two stunned boys, who had to move quickly to catch up with her.

"Hey Kari, Are you alright?" Tk asked, walking beside her. "What's going on?"

"Tai's gone missing," Kari said. "He hasn't been seen since first period."

"What?!" Davis yelled. "Do you think he was taken or something?"

"I honestly doubt it, Davis," Kari answered tiredly. "But it isn't like him to just skip school like that."

"Do you think it has something to do with the digital world?" Tk wondered aloud.

Kari blinked, her hand feeling the necklace

"I honestly didn't think of that," she admitted. "But we haven't heard anything for years. Why now?"

"Digital world?" Davis asked, looking between the two. "What's that?"

But it was like he wasn't even there

"Actually, they did say that his phone went off in class," Kari remembered, thinking. "Maybe it was his digivice?"

"I'm right here, don't just ignore me," Davis protested, stamping his foot.

"Mine hasn't made any noise," Tk said. "It's been silent for four years."

"Same, but if it would be anyone it would be Tai's-"

"Hey!" Davis interrupted, stepping in front of the two. "Don't just have a completely different conversation right in front of me! Now tell me what you two are talking about!"

Suddenly a door to their right slammed open.

"HEY!" yelled Yolei. "No yelling in the corridors! Some of us are trying to work in here!"

"You're yelling in the corridor as well!" Davis responded, only getting louder.

Kari and Tk looked at each other.

"Only to tell you to stop yelling!" Yolei protested, getting into Davis' face. "So it's fine when I do it!"

"Y-Yolei?" Kari said, a little shocked. "What are you doing in the computer room? I thought you said you quit that club."

Upon seeing Kari, she immediately paled.

"I-I did!" she said a little too quickly. "I was just... picking up some stuff that I left here earlier."

"But-but you said you were working," Tk said, a little hesitantly.

She rounded on him.

"Oh and I suppose you just know that, right?! Just assumed that was what I was doing?!"

"Huh? Y-you just said-"

"Look!" Kari interjected forcefully, stepping in the middle of the group. "We're never going to find my brother like this. Yolei, sorry we interrupted you doing whatever. Davis, I'll answer your questions later when we find Tai. Tk, focus on where Tai might have gone."

The three of them stared dumbly at her for a second, before Yolei spoke up.

"Oh you're looking for your brother? Well he's logged onto one of the computers in here so he'll probably be back any minute."

"What?!"

They all piled into the room around a single monitor which was showing some strange window Kari had never seen before. Although the images on it were more than familiar.

"That's the digital world," Tk breathed. "Did Tai go in through the screen?"

"'Gate: Open'," Kari read, her heartbeat quickening. "Does that mean...?"

"Well we can find out easily enough," Tk said, taking out his digivice and reaching into his shirt. "Do you have your crest with you?"

"Ask a stupid question," Kari responded, showing him her necklace.

"It was a valid question!"

"Will you two stop bickering like a married couple and tell me what's going on?!" Yolei asked.

"They are not bickering like a 'married couple'," Davis refuted. "They clearly hate each other! Also I still don't know what's going on, so neither should you! So butt out!"

Yolei snarled.

"Fine, I don't need this. I'll see you all later!"

With that, she left the room and slammed the door behind her.

"That wasn't nice, Davis," Tk admonished.

"What would you know?"

"Guys quiet," Kari hissed, getting out her digivice and pointing it at the screen. "Tk, is this how Matt got into the internet?"

"Well from what I saw, he kind of just got sucked in but it couldn't hurt."

He copied her, just as the computer beeped.

"Why did it just-" Davis began, before a bright light enveloped all three of them and sucked them in to the monitor.

The door opened, revealing a red-faced Yolei.

"I forgot my bag," she muttered, before realising the room was empty. "They vanished?"

* * *

Human? A megalomaniac seeking to conquer the digital world and remake it in their image. Tai felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at the very thought of fighting another Neo. It had been close last time, far too close. Neo had been but a hairs breadth from victory, which would have spelt the end for both worlds. But from what Agumon had said this guy has some advantages that Neo lacked. Whatever it was that was blocking their digivolution, for one thing. Then there was the brainwashing of innocent digimon to do his work for him.

For six months this had apparently been going on. The Emperor slowly expanding his territory, with innocent digimon forced to flee or become an unthinking slave to this Emperor's madness. Agumon mentioned how he hadn't seen all of their friends for that long and that they'd barely been able to put up an organised resistance as a result. The Emperor's army must be massive by now. An army made up mostly of innocents. A brief image of numerous cyborg digimon working unthinkingly in the depths of a concrete hell rose to Tai's mind.

He wouldn't let it happen again.

"We must be nearly there now," Agumon noted. "The patrols are coming by more often."

Tai nodded, keeping pressed against a tree as a ringed Tyrannomon walked on by oblivious to their presence. They moved on up past another set of trees. Tai crawled forwards to look into the nearby clearing and there he finally saw it.

The first thing that struck him was its simplicity. It was a black, featureless spire that rose out of the ground like it belonged there. As if had sprouted there like a plant as naturally as breathing. But that couldn't distract for long from the sense of sheer wrongness that Tai felt when he looked at it. When he gazed at it, his gut twisted and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to take a rock and smash the tower into the ground himself.

Shaking himself out of that absurd notion, Tai looked around for any guards.

"Three right there," he pointed out to Agumon. "Vegiemon by the looks of it."

"I don't see much else," Agumon replied. "This zone was conquered recently, he might not have had time to put up more guards."

"Maybe, but then again this thing might not be that important."

"I doubt it," Agumon said. "Doesn't it just feel, 'evil' to you?"

"It gives me the chills," Tai agreed. "Like I want to smash it with something."

"Then let's go! Three weak champions won't be a problem!"

"Just follow my lead," Tai grinned. "Now, Agumon!"

"Pepper Breath!"

* * *

Alarms blared throughout the base, startling the small green digimon sitting in his master's chair. The room was filled with monitors, all showing numerous camera feeds throughout his master's ever expanding empire.

"Oh dear," he said slowly, looking at the various alerts displayed on the main screen. "Ken's not going to like this."

"Like what, Wormmon?"

"Oh, Emperor sir! I didn't hear you come in!" Wormmon grovelled, jumping out of the chair as his master approached.

"I wonder why," the Emperor remarked dryly, looking at the alerts. "One of my Spires is under attack? Show me!"

The computers in front of him immediately switched to the point of view from several ring-wearing digimon, they had a brief glimpse of their attacker before the screen was filled with static and it switched to a different perspective.

"It's that Cloaked Agumon," the Emperor noted with a smile. "How soon can reinforcements get there?"

"Within minutes, my Emperor."

"Excellent, soon I will have- hold on," he said, looking at another one of the monitors. "Is that a human?"

The camera focused on the image of a bushy-haired boy wearing a green school uniform and a pair of goggles around his neck. He was giving orders to the Cloaked Agumon, which continued to bombard the Control Spire along with the meagre digimon guarding it.

Within moments the Spire crumbled under the onslaught and all the rings in the area went to static. There was nothing but silence in the control room as the Emperor stared at the monitors. Wormmon cleared his throat a little hesitantly, knowing how his master was likely to take this.

"He must be the Cloaked Agumon's partner," Wormmon said pleasingly. "Don't worry, master. You can't win them all; maybe we should just call it a day."

"Silence! This is fantastic news!" the Emperor declared, eyes lighting up behind his shaded glasses.

"It is?"

"Of course! Another player has finally entered the game! A whole new opponent to crush! Honestly I was getting bored of how easy it was. Saddle up my Airdramon force and be quick about it! I want a whole army ready to retaliate against him before he returns to the real world!"

"My Emperor, you don't think this is a little excessive?" Wormmon questioned carefully. "I mean not everyone can withstand the full might of your army. They might be killed."

"I know that, simpleton!" the Emperor yelled.

He cracked his whip and Wormmon flinched, backing away quickly.

"This is too good of an opportunity to waste. If I make sure to crush this resistance now before they can gain momentum, my reign will be all but assured! No one can or ever will best me! No heroic resistance will appear in my territory, I'll show everyone what happens when you fight back!"

His smile became malicious as he stormed off, towards where they kept their main air force. Wormmon followed at his master's heels; trying to ignore the terrible feeling building in his stomach.

* * *

"Where the hell are we?!" Davis yelled. "What's going on?!"

"Davis, please be quiet," Kari said, looking around and taking in the air. "I'll explain soon. I mean I didn't expect you would get sucked in as well."

She felt strange all of a sudden, like there was some sort of force in her chest. A force pulling her in some random direction.

"We should also keep quiet," Tk stated, looking ill at ease. "There's no telling what digimon could be lurking about and we're defenceless right now."

Kari nodded her agreement, before looking outwards towards some bushes.

"Do you feel that?" she asked Tk.

"Like something making you want to go in that direction?" he answered, pointing.

She nodded.

Meanwhile Davis paled.

"Digimon?! Like those ghost things that invaded four years ago?!" he asked, barely keeping from shouting.

"You were there?" Tk asked, surprised.

"Of course I was! Everyone was!" Davis hissed, looking around as if a Bakemon would leap out at him from nowhere. "I was there with Kari when Tai saved us from that vampire!"

"Vampire... Oh you mean Myotismon," Tk continued, before doing a double take. "Wait you saw Myotismon?! Wow, you must be braver than I thought. I still have nightmares about him and Angemon barely fought him."

"Angemon?"

Before Tk could respond, Kari quickly shushed him.

"I told Davis a few things, but not everything," she mentioned, pulling the two boys into a crouch with her. "There's something in the bushes. Be ready to run."

"Run?" Davis whispered. "It's not one of Myotismon's monsters is it?"

"No he's long gone," Kari responded, clenching her hands. "Tai made sure of that."

Suddenly out of the bushes popped a little white head. Blue eyes took in the three humans standing there before the creature shot towards them. Kari cried out as she was hit hard in the chest, sending her tumbling.

"Kari!" Tk and Davis yelled, running over to help.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried out happily.

The happy little champion digimon was hugging the life out of the girl, who was doing her absolute best to hug her back.

"It's been so long!" she said, looking at her smaller partner.

"I've missed you so much," Gatomon smiled, before seemingly realising there were others in the clearing.

Immediately hopping off her partner, she tried to save some face, and absently adjusted the whistle around her neck.

"And everyone else of course. Um, how're you doing?"

Davis was speechless whilst Tk smirked and shared a glance with Kari, who grinned.

"Tk!" a high pitched voice squealed.

Tk, seeing what was coming, held out his hands to catch the flying orange creature that hurtled towards him.

"Good to see you, Patamon," he said as the little rookie clambered onto his head.

"Wow, Tk! You're so big now," the rookie cooed, looking down on his partner's head. "Did you digivolve?"

"Ha-ha not exactly, I just grew."

"Um, are those digimon?" Davis asked, looking curiously at Gatomon and Patamon.

"No, I'm a house cat," Gatomon replied, folding her arms. "And who are you supposed to be, Tai's clone?"

"I'm Daisuke Motomiya, but just call me Davis," he answered.

"You humans have such strange names," Patamon remarked.

"Have you seen Tai by the way?" Kari asked Gatomon.

"I haven't seen him, though we did meet up with Agumon a few hours ago."

"They might have met up," Patamon said.

"That's a relief-" Kari began, before a low rumbling cut her off.

Gatomon's ears went flat as she turned to look at the forest. She put her ear to the shaking ground.

"Digimon, loads of them moving towards us," she muttered. "But what's causing it?"

Patamon left his perch on Tk's hat and flew high above the trees. His eyes widening, he flew back down in a complete panic.

"Airdramon!" he yelled. "Loads of them flying towards us! They're burning the forest!"

"It's the Emperor," Gatomon hissed. "We have to run!"

"What?!" Davis cried. "You can't fight?"

"There's two of us," Gatomon pointed out. "And we'd have to protect you three against the stampede coming this way. Now move!"

With that, the five of them took off. They sprinted through the forest with the sounds of pounding hooves and feet getting ever closer to sounds of trees collapsing under the onslaught of stampeding digimon right behind them. For several minutes the noises and terrified squeaks of the digimon being driven towards was all they could hear before the terrain began to move upwards and the group began to slow.

"Just up this hill, come on!" Gatomon yelled, even as the pounding drew ever closer and shadows began to cover the treeline behind them. "There's a cave! Quick inside!"

It was a small hole, barely large enough for a human to squeeze through, but it would have to do. Davis was first, diving into a skid to fall through the hole. Patamon and Tk were second, stopping and climbing in a little more. Gatomon glanced back towards Kari, who was further behind.

Kari's lungs were burning. She hadn't had to run this much for years and it was showing. Davis was always athletic so this wasn't too much of a problem for him and it seemed Tk had been doing some sort of sports since their last adventure, as he didn't seem to be struggling at all. Quietly, she cursed at the creeping, heavy sensation sinking in her legs.

"Come on, Kari!" her partner yelled, pushing her forwards into a dive.

She screamed in surprise as she skidded along the grass and into the cave, followed swiftly by Gatomon. Mere moments after they had vanished, the sky darkened as the bodies of hundreds of giant winged serpents cut through the air above them.

Then the ground shook and they were forced to cover their ears from the roars and cries of terror from above them. Dust and dirt fell loose from the ceiling as hordes of digimon ran above over the hill they were hiding in. It seemed to last forever, the three children staring stout-faced at the entrance which showed the occasional glimpse of some monstrous visage before vanishing at another glance.

After a few minutes of silence, they were brave enough to speak.

"You alright?" Tk panted, red faced in exhaustion.

"Yeah... just... give me... a moment," Kari replied, still tired.

She swore to herself after this she'd join the athletics club or something, this was just embarrassing. She'd been to the digital world before, she didn't need her hand held. Tk was probably worried that her illness was playing up. Last time she'd spent quite a bit of time with him barely conscious

"Hey this cave goes on," Davis noted, shooting Kari the occasional worried glance. "Where do you think it leads?"

"Uh, we have a bad history with caves," Kari noted, which made Tk chuckle.

"We might as well check," Gatomon declared from her position by the cave entrance. "The forest is on fire."

Her eyes were narrowed and her voice drawn into a hiss.

"I hope Agumon and Tai made it out," Patamon said.

"Hey we know them," Tk responded seeing Kari's expression. "They'll be fine. Come on, let's go see what's in this cave!"

As one, they all stood up as best they could in the cramped passage and began to continue onwards. Soon the cave widened and they were able to walk normally much to everyone's relief.

"We're not going deeper into the hill," Kari noticed. "I don't feel strange either."

"Yeah, I feel lighter somehow," Tk noted, taking in a deep breath.

"Come on, keep up!" Davis yelled from the front. "There's something ahead!"

The passageway opened up into a small cavern. A beam of light from outside came down from a crack in the rocks above, illuminating a small object in the middle. It was just about big enough to be cupped in two hands and Kari initially mistook it for a DigiEgg.

But it looked far too different. It was blue, with orange flames around the bottom and a single spike coming out of the top. As they got closer, they recognised the symbol emblazoned on the front.

"That's the Crest of Courage," Tk realised. "Is this egg related to Tai?"

"I've never seen this kind of egg before," Gatomon responded, quickly bounding over to take a closer look. "It's stuck."

"It's stuck?" Kari asked as everyone walked over.

"I can't move it," Gatomon answered, pulling hard on the egg. "That thing isn't moving."

"I'll give it a try," Davis said, walking over.

"There's no point, Davis," Tk explained. "Gatomon might be small, but she's still a champion level digimon. If she couldn't budge it none of us could possibly-"

"Got it!" Davis cheered, picking up the egg with no strain at all.

Stunned silence greeted him.

"But how-" Kari began before a huge beam of light interrupted her.

It shot out of the ground where the egg had been and knocked Davis backwards. The white light separated into red, blue and yellow lights which then moved. The blue one shot towards Davis, whilst the other two shot upwards, smashing through the roof and leaving a large open hole to the sky above.

But it didn't stop there. The blue light expanded outwards, revealing a small hunched over figure floating inside. With a single movement the creature uncurled and leapt towards the stunned Davis cheering.

"HAHA! I'm awake!" the little blue creature cheered, jumping up and down on the ground. "Whoa, I feel weird."

It moved and slowly felt all over its body as the others stared.

"I have a weird head," it remarked, touching the little horn on its nose before moving to the back of its head. "What are these?"

"You're a Veemon!" Gatomon cried out, finally finding her voice.

Veemon turned towards the champion.

"Yep, that's me! I think. Huh," he suddenly looked thoughtful. "I don't really remember. All I know is I was supposed to wait for someone."

This seemed very familiar, the Chosen noticed. And there was only one other human in the room who he could have been waiting for.

"What, Davis?!" Kari asked, surprised despite herself.

Veemon turned to look at the rest of them.

"Huh, humans? What are humans doing here?"

"Err..." Davis said.

Veemon looked down at the speechless Davis right in front of him, holding what looked like some sort of blue device.

"Hey you've got that digivice right? That means I'm your partner!"

Veemon held out his hand towards Davis.

"Please to meet ya! I'm Veemon, who're you?"

"D-Davis."

"That's a weird name."

"That's what I said!" Patamon agreed, liking this new digimon already.

"It's not a weird name!" Davis protested. "Veemon, now that's a weird name!"

"My name isn't weird!"

The two continued to argue as the others looked on.

"So Davis is a Chosen now?" Tk asked Kari, who nodded slowly.

"Where did those other lights go?" she wondered. "Does this mean there are more new Chosen now?"

Suddenly the ground shook as a large explosion made large cracks appear in the cave roof. Rocks began to crumble and fall as the cave became unstable.

"We should get out of here," Kari said, grabbing her digivice.

"We'll fly through that hole," Tk said, mirroring her.

"Looks like there's some action happening nearby," Veemon noted. "You ready to get involved, Davis?"

"Hell, yeah!" Davis cheered, fist bumping the little rookie.

Two bright lights encompassed Gatomon and Patamon. When it cleared, Davis had to pick his jaw off the floor.

"A-are those angels?!" he yelled.

"Yep," Kari said matter-of-factly as Angewomon scooped her up. "See you guys outside."

Angemon grabbed Tk with one hand and easily picked up Davis and Veemon with the other. The champion then launched upwards, Davis holding onto the strange egg as well as Angemon's arm as tightly as he dared.

"So Angemon and Angewomon, huh?" Davis asked as they continued to climb higher. "So does Veemon turn into Angebabymon or something?! Ow, Veemon!"

* * *

The Emperor rode on his personal Airdramon, saddled for his comfort of course, at the head of a whole fleet of the champions. Below he watched the digimon who used to call this forest home flee before the fire his army rained down upon it. This was their punishment for daring to defy his rule, for failing to stop the Cloaked Agumon and his partner from destroying the Control Spire. He would not tolerate weakness, he would not tolerate failure, and he would not tolerate resistance.

Next to him, Wormmon whimpered at the sheer amount of destruction they were bringing. No part of the forest was being spared and those who were too slow to evacuate perished in the flames.

The Emperor smirked. They would be coming up to where the Control Spire had been downed and once he'd captured that boy, he'd have him interrogated. Have that boy tell him how he managed to get into this world and whether or not there were others. Standard evil overlord stuff.

He was still chuckling when the entire right side of his fleet was vaporised in a flash.

The explosion blew his steed away, the Emperor holding out for dear life as the champion swayed helplessly in the powerful winds. After a few tense seconds, the Airdramon manged to right itself and the Emperor, could get a glimpse of what happened.

"What the hell was that?!" he screamed, a large portion of his fleet was nothing more than data in the wind. "Where did that-"

"Ken, look out!" Wormmon cried, tackling his master onto his stomach.

An orange blue shot by, and there was another ear shattering explosion. This time the Airdramon wasn't able to stay afloat. Panicking, the creature flew forwards as fast as it could as it to escape the danger.

But its exhaustion was showing, it was losing altitude at an alarming rate. They were about to hit the treeline.

"Sticky Thread!" Wormmon cried out, scooping his master up and off the falling Airdramon.

The Emperor found himself entangled in disgusting web, hanging from a tree branch just as the Airdramon smashed into the ground in front of him. Wormmon carefully lowered his master to the ground and the Emperor stood up, wiping the last strands of silk from his outfit.

"What was that?! Report! How many did we lose?" he demanded, shouting into his digivice. "We'll ascend again and survey the situation!"

The Airdramon he had been riding growled feebly, trying to rise on unsteady legs.

"Get up you useless creature!"

It suddenly shrieked and exploded into data. Flames tore into the grass and broken bushes where the champion once lay, revealing instead a lone orange figure. The Emperor stopped and stared, slowly backing away from the large armoured digimon wreathed in flame that was now standing right in front of him. An armoured figure with claws as long as his arm.

There was a rumble from behind the armoured figure as hundreds of digimon appeared, all fleeing the devastation his Airdramon had created. They immediately made way for the creature, giving a wide berth and flowing round the three of them like water.

For nearly a full minute, the Emperor locked eyes with the monster, an insipid terror creeping slowly through his spine. Then the digimon died down and once more, the three of them were the only creatures in the clearing.

"W-what are you?!" he yelled at the monster, which regarded him coolly with brown eyes. "Answer me!"

"It's a WarGreymon!" Wormmon moaned in abject terror.

"A what?!"

The WarGreymon stepped forwards and immediately, Wormmon leapt in front of his partner. The monster stared surprised at Wormmon for a brief instant before furious eyes turned towards him.

"You?" it spoke in a deep grating voice, almost sounding insulted. "You are the Emperor?!"

He was too terrified to speak. His once magnificent brain had turned to mush in front of this new horror.

"That's a WarGreymon," Wormmon spoke, his voice steady despite the situation. "He's the strongest form of an Agumon."

"An Agumon?" the Emperor murmured, the word slowly kick starting something in his brain. "The Cloaked Agumon! You're the Cloaked Agumon?!"

The WarGreymon seemed amused at the moniker.

"Yes, I am him and so much more. Your 'reign' is over, child."

A little laugh of sheer relief bubbled in the Emperor's throat. It started small, but soon burst forth, becoming a full on maniacal cackle. The WarGreymon frowned, taking another step forwards.

"What's so funny?"

"I thought I was in serious trouble for a moment there," the Emperor spoke through his laugher, before holding up his black digivice. "But now I know what you are, I can do this!"

The digivice pulsed and the WarGreymon suddenly staggered back. Instantly the fires around it vanished along with it in a flash of light, to reveal the human boy standing there with the Cloaked Agumon.

"Hahaha!" the Emperor laughed. "The looks on your faces! It's more than just my Control Spires that can cancel your digivolution!"

The boy's expression grew furious.

"You! What the hell do you think you're doing to these digimon?!"

"Whatever I want. They are my slaves, put here for me to conquer."

"What is wrong with you?!" the Cloaked Agumon demanded. "You're ruining their lives, destroying their homes! Making them kill their own friends!"

"If they just surrendered, it wouldn't be a problem," he answered simply.

With a growl the two immediately ran forwards. Wormmon leapt to wards the Agumon, leaving the rookie preoccupied. The older boy grabbed the Emperor by his scruff roughly. Before he realised what was happening he was struck across the face, his glasses going flying.

"These digimon have feelings just like you!" the boy yelled. "Do you really not-wargh!"

Acting on instinct, the Emperor grabbed the boy and with a simple judo move flung him over his shoulder and onto the ground. The boy his the grass with a hiss of pain, but the Emperor wasn't done yet. Anger filling his vision he placed a boot on the older boy's shoulder and _twisted._ There was a horrible tearing sound and the older boy screamed, clutching at his shoulder in pain.

The Emperor snarled down at him, feeling the horrible bruise forming on his cheek from the boy's blow.

"You deserve far worse for even laying a hand on my magnificence!" he screamed. "There are still Airdramon left and I'll have them destroy you!"

"Stay away from him! Pepper Breath!"

The ball of fire shot towards the Emperor, far faster than the boy could react. His blue eyes widened as his death approached him. Without thinking he rose his hands to protect himself and there was a bright flash of light.

"Stingmon!"

He was enclosed in large arms and safe. The Emperor stared up in shock at his saviour, another digimon he had never seen before

"Are you alright?" it asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Ken replied softly. "W-Wormmon?"

Stingmon nodded and stood up fully, glaring hard at the Cloaked Agumon who ran over towards the boy clutching at his shoulder. The two digimon squared off angrily, both ready to fight for their partners.

A screech from above soon alerted the two to the remaining Airdramon incoming. The Emperor laughed again, standing up on shaking legs as the three remaining Airdramon took up positions behind Stingmon. They sat in the unburnt trees, perched and ready to attack the Cloaked Agumon and his partner at a moment's notice.

"I win!" the Emperor cried out, throwing his arms out like he was in a play. "Don't you see?! I win! I always win!"

"Hand of Fate!"

A beam of bright light shot out of the trees and skewered one of the Airdramon. It burst into data, making the other two immediately take flight. They fired bursts of fire towards the trees but what he could only describe as an angel simply batted the attack away.

"What-!" the Emperor yelled.

"Celestial Arrow!"

Another angelic figure shot out of the trees, firing an arrow made of light at one of the Airdramon. The Airdramon burst into data on contact with the attack, vanishing completely. Another figure soon followed, this one blue and covered in flame-coloured armour.

"Fire Rocket!" it roared, shooting balls of fire towards the final Airdramon.

The creature dodged valiantly, but several still hit it, knocking it back. Jumping off of the treetops, the armoured figure leapt towards the Airdramon, fire covering his entire form. With a war cry, it shot into the Airdramon. The champion was knocked away into the trees, defeated.

"Wow, that's so cool!" a new face yelled, from across the clearing.

"More of them," the Emperor realised as the three new fighters all landed next to the cloaked Agumon, along with their partners.

He activated his digivice again. The dark thing pulsed and the two angels screamed in pain before returning to their smaller forms. The armoured digimon did no such thing. Instead it leapt towards Stingmon, who met it halfway.

The two clashed, hand in hand, each straining against the other. With a mighty push, Stingmon threw it backwards and kicked him in the stomach, sending him skidding across the grass.

It spat on the grass, putting up its claws ready to continue.

"I ain't done yet," he declared as Stingmon stared at him.

"You weren't affected," Stingmon noted. "I've never seen a digimon such as you before. What is your name?"

"I am Flamedramon," he proclaimed, smirking as fire burst forth from his claws. "And don't you forget it! Fire Rocket!"

A blade of pink energy came out of Stingmon's arm and he swatted the fire away with some effort.

"I won't," he promised, before turning to his master. "We should leave. These odds don't look good."

The Emperor was loathe to retreat, but it seemed they didn't have a choice. They were up against two champions and at least one powerful rookie without any backup. A genius always knew when it was best to retreat and think of another attack for later.

"Fine," he snarled, as Stingmon picked him up and spread his wings.

"Hey, get back here!" Flamedramon yelled as the champion shot off into the sky. "I wasn't done with you yet!"

"It looks like we won," Gatomon stated, watching with feline eyes until the champion disappeared from sight. "Sorry, I didn't help. I wasn't expecting to just de-digivolve like that."

"It's fine," Flamedramon said, lowering his claws. "I was enjoying that while it lasted."

"Tai, are you alright?!" Kari asked, looking over her brother's shoulder as best she could.

"No, I'm fine," Tai lied obviously, his face scrunched up in pain as everyone gathered round him. "Thanks for the backup, though."

"No problem!" Davis said, excited despite himself. "But can someone please explain to me what's going on _now_?"

* * *

 **A/N: Well feel free to tell me what you think. Leave your thoughts and comments and criticisms in the reviews section, or just PM me. You've certainly all noted that there has already been a few changes, which will only become clearer as the story continues.  
**

 **Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Next chapter will be posted next monday on 29th June.**

 **Edited for Grammar 03/08/15: Thanks to Captain Nice Hardrive**


	3. Chapter 2: Making Plans

**A/N: Here we go, sorry it's a little late. I was a bit busier than I expected to be. There's not much action in this chapter and it's a little dialogue heavy in my personal opinion, but some things really need to be said.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon**

* * *

 **Making Plans  
**

"Wow," Davis muttered, staring at Tai in what could be described as abject awe. "So you guys did all that?! The thing with the giant spider and the wall of ice, that was you guys?!"

"Yeah," Tk said, a little put-out that Davis would focus on the parts he'd had less of a hand in. "All of us helped save the digital world before."

"So is this Emperor guy one of you then?"

"Definitely not!" Kari protested, glaring at Davis. "None of us would act like he does! Treating innocent digimon as slaves..."

"I wasn't suggesting it!" Davis backpedalled furiously. "It's just, didn't Tai say that his digimon digivolved to protect him?"

"I did," Tai answered, sitting with his back against a nearby tree. "The Emperor had a strange digivice which separated me and Agumon from WarGreymon. We couldn't digivolve afterwards either."

"So that's what that was," Tk muttered, before looking up at Patamon. "Good thing you weren't carrying us when it happened."

"That would have been a disaster," Patamon muttered, from his position on Tk's head.

"Are you feeling alright, Tai?" Kari asked, looking on as her brother clutched at his right shoulder.

"I'm fine," Tai said curtly, ignoring the doubtful look Kari sent him.

He suppressed a groan as he tried to sit in a more comfortable position. It was humiliating, but he couldn't move his right arm without pain lancing through like he'd just stuck it with a knife.

Leaning his back against a tree, Tai carefully surveyed the others. Agumon was sitting next to him, sending concerned glances every now and then. Even without that obvious reminder, he could practically feel his partner's concern through their bond. It settled in his chest, a small nugget of warmth that soothed him; reminded him that he could always keep on moving.

Looking around it seemed Kari and Tk had found their own partners without any other trouble, which was pretty surprising considering his own lucky coincidence with Agumon. Perhaps the digital world drew the three of them in because it somehow knew their partners were close by?

Of course, what was even more surprising was Davis. Judging by the appearance of that armoured blue digimon it seemed he was a new Chosen. Although something seemed a little off to the Victory Tamer. The Flamedramon had looked familiar somehow, but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen one before. Then there was that Spire. The image of that dark imposing tower burned in his mind. He knew he'd seen it somewhere before, but just couldn't quite recall. Something about it just didn't fit right with the rest of the digital world. It was hard to describe, but it gave off a sensation of absolute wrongness. Like everything else around it became a little less real.

All this confusion was giving him a headache. Tai winced, and the pain in his right shoulder wasn't helping. Damn, he hadn't expected the kid to know martial arts! At least the others hadn't seen it. He knew quite a few people who would mock the hell out of him for getting taken out by a, at most, twelve year old kid.

"Hey, Davis," Kari suddenly asked. "What happened to that DigiEgg?"

"Yeah," Tk agreed, frowning. "You didn't drop it or anything?"

"I didn't drop it!" Davis replied, glaring at Tk. "Veemon's currently wearing it."

"I told you, my name is Flamedramon now," Flamedramon said, returning along with Gatomon.

"We checked the perimeter and the Emperor's not coming back," the champion said, casually hopping over the others to sit in Kari's lap. "It should be safe to dedigivolve now, Flamedramon."

"Aw, do I have to?" Flamedramon whined. "I look so cool!"

"Believe me, the longer you take to return the more exhausted you'll feel when you do," Patamon spoke up tiredly. "Especially for your first time."

"Gatomon's still a champion," Flamedramon said, crossing his arms. "I'm just as tough as she is!"

The digimon in question scoffed.

"You've got some ways to go before you're as tough as me," she explained. "Also I'm a special case. I reached champion without the help of my partner, so I retain this form permanently."

"Just dedigivolve already, Flamedramon," Davis said, before patting the empty ground next to him. "Look, I've saved you a seat!"

"Fine," Flamedramon huffed.

There was a bright glow as Flamedramon shrank back down into Veemon. A small bright red light shot out of the rookie and straight into Davis' pocket, startling him. Tai stared at Veemon for a brief moment in shock. He looked almost like a smaller version of Zeromaru, especially with the 'V' on his forehead. Veemon, Veedramon; the two could be related somehow...

"Whoa!" Davis yelled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his digivice. "Hey, that egg thing is on the screen!"

"What?" Kari asked, leaning over to have a look.

Sure enough, there was the picture of that strange armoured egg on the screen. It was even labelled.

"Digimental of Courage?" Kari read over Davis' shoulder. "That's the Digimental you had, Tai?"

"Let me see," Tai quickly ordered, holding out his hand.

A little frightened at the strange tone, Davis handed over his digivice. Tai observed it silently, staring at the picture with its strange caption for a few moments. It was immediately clear to him that wasn't the Digimental. Not as he knew it.

What was worrying him more was 'Veemon'. He looked too similar to Zero for it to be a coincidence. But Zeromaru was supposed to have been unique, a glitch that became a full-on digimon. Things weren't making sense.

"That's definitely not the Digimental," he spoke, sounding confused. "The Digimental looked very different and this has the Crest of Courage on it. Where did you find this?"

"In a cave," Tk answered. "Gatomon couldn't lift it, but Davis could."

"And that's when Veemon appeared!" Davis said happily, patting the blue rookie on the back. "He said he was waiting for me."

"Maybe it was meant for Tai?" Kari suggested. "That is his Crest. I don't know about Veemon though."

"What and it settled for Davis?" Tk said doubtfully.

"What's that supposed to mean, TJ?!"

"I meant that Tai has the Crest of Courage," Tk explained, holding up his hands in a placating manner. "So I figured something with that symbol would be intended for him."

"Maybe," Tai murmured to himself, glancing at Veemon surreptitiously. "But then again maybe not."

So Veemon had appeared when Davis lifted the Digimental of Courage, and granted him a new digivice. It seemed too deliberate to Tai to be an accident. Maybe he wasn't meant to pick up that egg, even though he wielded the Crest of Courage. Maybe the digital world had chosen Davis instead. It would explain the new partner for one thing.

Keeping his thoughts to himelf he handed the digivice back to Davis and then smiled at the younger boy.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter now. This is definitely your digivice. So congratulations Davis, it looks like you're one of the Chosen."

Davis grinned widely, immediately losing any semblance he had of a bad mood.

"Yeah!" he yelled, pumping his fist into the air. "Hear that Veemon?! We're part of the group!"

"How could I not hear it, you're right there! Hey, quit hugging me!"

"So how did you digivolve, Veemon?" Tai asked, watching the two play-wrestle. "Most digimon don't do that unless their partners are in danger. I'm surprised you digivolved so quickly."

"Huh? Davis wasn't in danger," Veemon spoke from his position of receiving a noogie from his partner.

He extricated himself from Davis' grip and thought back to that moment.

"One moment I was being carried by Angemon. The next I was Flamedramon. Oh and that reminds me, you dropped me!"

Patamon shrugged.

"Hey you suddenly shouted 'Armour Digivolve' and grew while I was holding you, I was surprised!" the rookie protested.

"You dropped me as well!" Davis said accusingly, pointing at the little digimon. "I noticed you didn't drop TL!"

"I was holding you two with the same arm! And I would never drop Tk!"

"Damn straight," Tk said fondly, smiling up at his partner.

The four of them continued to bicker whilst the others looked on with exasperation and maybe a little fondness. Agumon leant over towards Tai.

"It's weird how he wasn't affected by the Emperor's digivice," Agumon muttered.

"Maybe Davis' digivice counteracted it somehow?" Tai suggested. "The two looked identical apart from the colour."

"I think it has something to do with that egg Davis picked up," Gatomon interrupted, her large ears twitching as she gave the two a sly grin. "The Digimental of Courage, that is. Patamon did say he 'Armour digivolved'. I've never heard of that term before."

"This is too much for me right now," Tai groaned, holding his head with his good hand. "We can meet with the others and talk about it then."

'Then there's what I picked up earlier,' he thought to himself, feeling for the object in his pocket.

"So you just thought about going towards the explosion, then the egg vanished and Veemon digivolved?" Tk asked Davis, looking surprised.

"Well yeah," Davis answered, folding his arms. "What, does that mean something?"

"I-I don't know!"

Kari smiled at the scene before turning to look at her brother.

"We should probably start heading back," she said. "It's been almost an hour since we left, people might start to miss us."

"Huh?" Tai blinked. "But we should have plenty of time; there's the time difference remember?"

The other three humans looked at one another awkwardly.

"Er, Tai?" Tk began. "How long have you been here?"

"Only a few hours I think," Tai said, frowning in thought. "It took us quite some time to sneak past all the ring controlled digimon. Why?"

"Well... there isn't really a time difference anymore."

"You may be in a bit of trouble," Kari said delicately.

"Yeah, you might want to think of a _really_ good excuse," Davis spoke, grinning nervously. "I know, how about you were mugged?"

Tai stared at them blankly for a moment, before the reality of the situation slowly sunk in. The implications of having left in the middle of his first class and then vanishing for a few hours afterwards.

"Shit."

* * *

The Emperor was shaking when Stingmon finally touched down onto the roof of his headquarters. The adrenaline of coming within a hairs breadth of dying, coupled with the long flight back had taken its toll; leaving the Emperor exhausted.

He staggered away from the champion just as it was encased in a bright light. Covering his now unguarded eyes against the glow, the Emperor lowered his hands to reveal the champion gone and Wormmon standing in its place. It still boggled his mind that his useless wimp of a servant not only saved his life but had actually fought back and extracted him from a near hopeless battle. His digivice definitely had something to do with it. He thought that he had long discovered all of its secrets, but it seemed there were still things that eluded him.

Perhaps if he had been in a better state, the idea would have excited him. For now though, he just felt done.

The two descended down into the depths of the base in silence. Neither felt much like talking about the sheer absurdity that had happened today. The Emperor soon collapsed into his chair, one that surveyed his entire command centre. He deftly ignored the screens dutifully telling him that there was one less sector under his control than there had been this morning. That for the first time since he had started his campaign he had actually lost ground.

He clenched his hands into fists at the very thought; an old and familiar rage slowly returning.

How? How could he have lost?! Lost against those who were clearly inferior? The fault couldn't lie with him. He had sent forth almost his entire air force, with himself at the helm! Yet they had all been obliterated effortlessly by a digimon whose power he had been entirely unaware of. A power he had never even dreamed of.

Who was that boy? Who were those kids?

The Emperor put his hands to his face, trying to regain his composure. There would definitely be a bruise on his cheek by tomorrow, but at least he had made that fool pay for it-

"My face!" he realised, standing up and startling Wormmon. "My glasses were knocked off, they saw my face!"

He paced about utterly furious, trying to get a grasp on the situation. They would recognise him in an instant; the famous Ken Ichijouji! He was on the news every other week! Those spineless reporters and those moron professors in their colleges couldn't get enough of his genius! They all saw his face, they could confront him in the real world where they held the advantage!

'No, no, calm down,' he thought quickly. 'They didn't all see my face; they were too far away. Only that older boy got a good look and he's probably too stupid to realise.'

Slowly his breathing returned to normal and his pacing ceased. He sat back down on his chair and laced his fingers together. No, this minor setback wasn't anywhere near as catastrophic as he had first imagined. He still had some Airdramon left and he now knew what it was they were capable of. Whereas they knew nothing about his plans.

He'd build up his forces again, continue his experiments and soon bring this entire world to its knees!

A small laugh let loose from his lips, causing Wormmon to look at him in concern.

"Master, how about we call it a day?" Wormmon suggested, slowly approaching the throne. "You've been through quite a bit and need your rest."

"Silence!" the Emperor shouted. "I will decide when I need rest, not you! There is still much to do! I need to find some slaves to replace those digimon I lost as well as think up some plans to deal with these children!"

"Well, why don't you just get more Airdramon?"

"More Airdramon?" the Emperor scoffed. "And where exactly would I find more Airdramon willing to serve me?"

"The same place you found the last ones?" Wormmon nervously proposed.

The Emperor fell silent. He tried to recall where he had found those Airdramon. There had been so many, hundreds almost, and he suddenly couldn't recall where they had initially come from. He frowned, sinking slowly into his seat as he tried to remember. But the memories were like smoke. They kept slipping away whenever he grasped at them.

"They... they had always been here hadn't they?" Ken asked quietly. "When I first arrived..."

"M-master?"

"SHUT UP!" the Emperor roared, standing up swiftly before making his way towards his main computer. "Wormmon, I am going home to rest for the day. Lock up the base and keep an eye on things while I'm gone, you can do that at least? I only have so long to think of a way to deal with these Neanderthal children! And _don't_ follow me!"

He shouted that last part and within a moment had vanished into the computer screen. Wormmon stared at where his partner had vanished, before silently making his way towards the computer screen.

"Oh Ken," the tired rookie muttered. "Please be alright."

* * *

It didn't take them long to get back to the TV where they entered. After only a bit of confusion and panic, they all used their digivices to bring themselves back into the human world. Unfortunately, their landing wasn't exactly subtle. Even more unfortunately, the classroom wasn't exactly empty.

"Davis, get your butt out of my face!" Kari muttered, pushing as hard as she could on the boy on top of her.

"I'm trying, but Tk's elbow is in my eye!"

"Sorry!"

"My arm!" Tai cried out, as Tk shifted onto his shoulder.

"Sorry again!"

"This is pretty sad," Gatomon observed, from her position standing on top of the pile. "You humans aren't very agile are you?"

"W-What the hell?!" another voice cried out.

Gatomon looked up to see another human girl, one with long purple hair, pointing at her and backing away. The champion raised an arm.

"Hello," she greeted politely. "Sorry about them, they're a little clumsy."

Yolei gaped. Her mouth hung open but no sound came out for a good couple of seconds.

"Y-you talked?" she eventually stammered out, backing away a little.

Suddenly a pink ball bounced onto a nearby desk, where it looked directly at the startled Yolei.

"Hey Tai, who's that?" Koromon asked, pointing at the girl.

All three of them turned to look at Yolei.

"Um, that's, I don't know," Tai said, paling. "Hello?"

"Yolei!" Kari yelled, pulling herself out of the pile of limbs with some difficulty. "Er, I can explain-"

"You all came out of the computer," Yolei muttered, staring in shock. "You vanished earlier and now you're back."

"Well yes, but it's-"

"And you have... things with you," she said, pointing at Koromon and Gatomon.

"Who're you calling a 'thing'?" Gatomon huffed. "You're not much to look at yourself."

"Gatomon!" Kari scolded. "Look, I'll explain, you just need to-"

"And the things talk!" Yolei spoke, her voice increasing in volume. "And insulted me!"

"I'm sorry for her, but-"

"AND THEN THERE'S THIS!" Yolei screamed, shoving a red digivice at Kari. "I was working, then THIS smacked me, IN THE FACE! I THOUGHT SOMEONE THREW IT!"

Kari gaped wordlessly.

"So EXPLAIN it, Hikari!" Yolei said, red-faced as everyone stared. "PLEASE!"

There was silence; save for Yolei's panting after her outburst. Slowly, she recovered herself as the others, including the digimon, continued to stare. She blushed, before quickly folding her arms and trying to resume an impatient expression.

"Well I'm waiting."

"Wow, that human's loud," a small blue creature said, before jumping onto Davis' head. "You're not all like that here, are you?"

* * *

"Hiya! Hiya!" the boy cried, bringing his kendo sword down onto his opponent's. "Hiya! Hiya!"

He kept up his attack, knowing that a single moment of distraction could turn the tables for the fight. He moved forwards, forcing his opponent backwards to prevent him from striking the head.

'Keep striking the blade,' he thought as he focused on putting one foot in front of the other. 'Keep him moving backwards, on the defensive. If they can't attack, they can't win!'

"Hiya! Hiya!"

He drew back his blade to strike again, but this time his opponent's sword followed him. It struck outwards, knocking his sword to the side. The boy had no time to react before the larger man brought his sword down onto his head. It bounced harmlessly off his helmet and decisively ended the match. Panting, he saluted his opponent and watched as his opponent did the same.

He pulled off his helmet to the sound of muffled applause.

"Well done, Iori," his opponent said, clapping softly. "You did very well there until the end."

"Thank you, Grandfather," Iori replied, feeling a surge of pride in his chest.

"But in the future be careful," his Grandfather warned. "When an opponent you know is tough is suddenly giving way, you should be wary of a trap."

That surge of pride quickly vanished and Iori bowed his head.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, cursing himself inwardly.

A strong hand clasped him on the back and he nearly staggered.

"Don't be sorry, just remember what I said," his Grandfather continued, smiling at him. "Come, have something to drink and rest for the moment. You've earned it."

The two sat down on the benches and his Grandfather handed him a juice box.

"Cheers," the old man joked, clanking their juice boxes together before taking a long sip.

Iori stayed silent, slowly drinking his juice. He looked down at the floor of the gym they were practicing in. His Grandfather was the head of the school club, a private instructor so that the school could claim Kendo as one of its afterschool activities. Looking at the time, he would have to go home soon, a time he always dreaded.

"Is something the matter, Iori?" his Grandfather asked. "You should always make sure to drink something after exercising. Especially with all the padding in Kendo, it's very easy to get dehydrated."

"I'm sorry, Grandfather," he apologised, before drinking his juice more quickly.

His Grandfather sighed.

"You seemed a little distracted today," he noted. "Is there anything on your mind?"

"No," Iori muttered, kicking his legs a little. "Today was a pretty interesting day."

"Made some new friends?"

"I guess."

"Answered questions in class?"

"Yes."

His Grandfather gave him a sidelong glance, before giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Well you'd better get going. The advanced class will be coming in soon. I'll see you at home."

"Alright," Iori said, standing up.

He went to the exit, but stopped and bowed towards his Grandfather.

"Thank you for teaching me today," he said, before grabbing his stuff and leaving.

He just about caught sight of his Grandfather waving as he closed the door behind him. It was a quick walk from there to the school gates. It was beginning to get dark and the evening sun was beginning to dip down over the horizon, letting darkness reign over the sky.

Iori Hida forced himself not to groan. Standing by the gates was his escort. His mother hadn't been comfortable with him walking home alone in the near dark so she had asked their neighbour's daughter to accompany him home after school. The girl in question currently had her back to him, examining her phone or something.

Iori coughed loudly. The girl jumped, shoving her phone into her pocket before turning towards him.

"Oh you're here, Cody," Yolei said happily. "How was your day?"

"It's Iori," he clarified as they set off together. "And my day was tiring. Yours?"

"Pretty unusual you could say," Yolei muttered.

"How so?"

"Oh, um..." Yolei floundered for a moment. "I had to help a friend escort her brother to a hospital. He nearly broke his arm falling down a set of stairs."

Iori frowned. Was it just him or did Yolei seem strangely jumpy? He hadn't known her for long; his mother had pretty much forced him to interact with her. But this seemed a little too different to the Yolei he was used to.

"Did something else happen?" he asked. "You seem a little tense."

"Tense, who's tense? I'm not tense!" Yolei lied, trying to wave away his concerns. "I've just got quite a bit on my mind, that's all."

Iori could see that she wasn't going to answer truthfully, so he gave her a way out.

"Dreading having to work at your mother's shop again?" he suggested. "That's what you usually complain about."

"Yeah," Yolei sighed, before looking up at the evening sky. "Hey Cody, can I ask you a weird question?"

"If you must," Iori sighed, expecting the worst.

She didn't usually try to involve him so much in their conversations. For the short period he'd known her, she rarely deviated from talking about her family or whatever problems she was having at school.

"Do you think it's possible there are other things out there? Other worlds we don't know of?"

That stopped Iori dead in his tracks. Yolei stopped as well, only a couple of steps ahead of him.

"My Grandfather says that there are plenty of things we don't know," Iori answered carefully. "Do you mean like a World of Spirits, a heaven?"

"Sort of, well not really," Yolei said happily, before holding up a finger to her head in thought. "More like a world of monsters!"

'Oh,' he thought to himself. 'I shouldn't have been surprised.'

He kept on walking. Here he'd almost thought she had asked him something profound. Iori shook himself from the notion that Yolei actually wanted to have a serious conversation with him. Like that would ever happen. He doubted she even had a care in the world.

"No," he answered simply.

"Well then how do you explain those attacks four years ago?" Yolei questioned, throwing her arm out in the direction of Tokyo Bay. "Or that huge Wall of Ice?!"

The Ice Wall was what some people used as proof that supernatural events had definitely occurred some night four years ago in Odaiba. It was, as its name indicated, a huge fifty meter wall of ice in the shape of a tidal wave that looked to be only mere moments from crashing into the city. It had formed near the start of the reconstruction effort in Odaiba and a few people claimed it was the result of a giant spider monster attacking the city.

Whatever it was that occurred that day, helicopters arrived in time only to find a significant portion of the ocean flash-frozen somehow, with no indication of what had done this. It had been decreed as unnecessarily dangerous to dismantle the giant wave of ice, as it could crush several small buildings if not done carefully enough.

Instead some brilliant spark had the thing chipped away a little to look more aesthetically pleasing. Then it had been labelled as a tourist attraction. Now thousands of people from all over the world could gawk at it and pay money to see it up close.

"I don't remember seeing any monsters," Iori stated. "And if there were any monsters, why is there no camera footage of them? As for the Ice Wall, it was probably some sort of new attraction for Odaiba to bring in the tourists. You can't deny that there have been plenty more of them wandering around ever since."

"Ok, you were like four when it happened," Yolei responded. "So of course you don't remember seeing any monsters. And two... well I don't know! But just because I don't know doesn't mean I don't think something happened!"

"Exactly, something happened, but no one can agree on what."

"Look, why don't you just ask other people what they saw! I didn't even live here back then! They'll be able to tell you that it was monsters!"

"No one agrees on anything," Iori answered. "My Mother and Grandfather just woke up in the middle of a building along with everyone else. Neither of them saw anything else. So forgive me if I don't immediately take to heart what _you_ say as the truth."

Yolei growled as they walked up the steps to their floor of the building.

"You're such a stubborn little jerk!" she claimed, before opening her front door. "I know they're real and you don't know anything!"

She slammed the door in his face, making Iori wince.

Maybe he had been a little harsh with her. His Grandfather told him he was a little too stubborn sometimes.

Iori went inside his own home and politely greeted his mother, before making his way to his bedroom. Of course, there were things that couldn't be explained by what people knew, but giant monsters fighting in Tokyo? That just seemed a tad too much like wish fulfilment to him, especially when it was coming from Yolei.

He dumped his back out onto his desk, looking over the assignments and notes he had made that day.

Then something caught his eye.

It was a small, yellow device, just sitting there innocently amongst his books. Iori didn't recognise it in the slightest. It looked far too high tech to be something he could afford. Maybe someone had misplaced it?

'Misplace it in the bottom of my bag?' he thought to himself.

He reached out and picked up the strange device. It felt heavy in his palm, but also somehow right.

Iori shook himself free of that notion. His Grandfather wouldn't approve. Keeping something that wasn't his was akin to stealing it himself. Tomorrow he would go to school and hand it in at the lost and found. That settled in his mind, he put the device away and quickly went about the rest of his evening.

He wouldn't give the strange device another thought.

At least until the next morning.

* * *

"Sorry I called you all here on such short notice," Tai apologised, rubbing the back of his neck with his left arm. "I just thought this was something we should talk about as soon as possible."

"I had to cancel band practice for tonight," Matt stated, leaning back against his seat as he regarded Tai with cool blue eyes. "This had better be important."

"Knowing Tai like we do; in all probability it is," Izzy said from his seat further away. "And it's most likely something to do with the digital world."

"The digital world?" Joe spoke up, adjusting his glasses. "Really? Maybe we should get out of this trolley car then? Just in case they want it back."

"I somehow doubt it, Joe," Sora answered dryly. "Gennai probably won't appreciate the moss."

"At least we kept the seats clean," Mimi said proudly, from her position near the window. "Shame all the glass broke though, it's freezing!"

"How did you know it was about the digital world?" Tai asked, looking at Izzy.

"Why else would you tell us it's all urgent and make us meet here of all places?" Izzy answered.

"You can be pretty predictable at times," Sora agreed, giving her friend an easy smile. "Not that that's a bad thing."

Tai pouted.

"So is that why you didn't tell me your brother was moving here, Matt?" he questioned the blonde, poking a finger into the tall boy's chest. "So you could surprise me?"

"I thought you'd figure it out without me needing to tell you," Matt answered, batting the finger away. "Plus Tk asked me not to tell you."

"Why would he do that?"

A couple of the others exchanged knowing glances.

"No reason, Tai," Mimi giggled. "Look! Here comes Tk and Kari, now!"

The automatic doors had stopped working within days of the trolley car arriving in the human world. So the two had to open the doors manually, which kind of ruined the surprise.

"Hey everyone!" Tk greeted. "Long time no see!"

"Hi guys," Kari said. "Look who else we brought!"

Gatomon took that as her cue to jump in through the window along with Patamon and Koromon.

"Wow, Izzy you were right," Joe remarked, standing up to get a better look at the three digimon along with a few others.

"Whoa," Patamon said, looking up at the children. "You're all so tall now."

"Especially Joe," Gatomon noted. "You're like a giant!"

The seventeen year old Joe blushed a little.

"Er, thank you, Gatomon," he muttered. "Being six foot three is just great. Not noticeable at all."

"What happened to your hair, Matt?" Koromon wondered. "It was all spiky and now it's long and covering your eyes."

"I changed styles," the blonde said, looking away quickly as Tai gave him a smug grin.

"But isn't it impractical to have your hair over your eyes?" Patamon asked innocently.

"Maybe you should tie it back?" Koromon suggested.

"Or cut it," Gatomon added. "I think you look ridiculous."

"Quit talking about my hair!"

Everyone laughed and the three digimon were swamped by comments and questions. Then Izzy cleared his throat.

"This is all well and good," he began. "But unless all our partners are going to jump out of the darkness at us, there has to be another reason why Tai brought us here."

The mood turned sombre as the thought made its rounds among the Chosen.

"So what about everyone else?" Sora asked the digimon anxiously. "What about Biyomon? Is she alright?"

"We don't know," Gatomon admitted, looking down at the ground. "Patamon and I stuck together, but as for everyone else we haven't seen them in years."

"You mean they could be dead?" Mimi asked quietly.

"I doubt it," Koromon answered. "They're tough and there aren't many digimon who would threaten them. It's the Emperor we're worried about."

"The Emperor?" Matt spoke up, looking straight at Tai.

"He's a human," Tai answered. "About twelve years old, has a partner and a new digivice that can cancel and block digivolution."

He spent about ten minutes explaining what had happened, along with Tk and Kari and their partners interjecting when needed.

"As far as we know he wants to conquer the digital world," Kari said. "And with those Dark Rings it'll be difficult to stop him."

"You know, pretty standard villain stuff," Tk added.

"You guys now know everything we know," Gatomon continued. "Anything else you'd like to ask?"

Izzy laced his fingers together.

"Is it at all possible to digivolve outside of the range of one of the Control Spires?" he asked. "Then get near them and destroy them. Or would you dedigivolve anyway?"

"We don't really know," Koromon said. "But we could give it a try next time."

"Not until Tai's injuries heal," Kari said sternly.

"It's just my arm!"

"Is that how you hurt yourself?" Sora questioned, pinning Tai with a glare. "You told me you fell down the stairs in your apartment building!"

"Tai, you shouldn't downplay your injuries," Joe scolded. "You wouldn't believe the kind of things that happen to people who just try and ignore them."

"Not surprised, to be honest," Matt said, now smugly grinning at Tai.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry," Tai muttered. "I just didn't want to be side-lined."

"Can't Angewomon or MagnaAngemon heal him?" Mimi suggested. "It worked on all of us before fighting Apocalymon."

"That's actually a good idea, Mimi," Izzy said. "Unless you have any objections, Gatomon, Patamon?"

"Not really," Gatomon said. "But I'm pretty tired at the moment. I can heal him tomorrow."

"Well that's sorted then," Izzy continued. "Now how are we going to deal with this self-proclaimed 'Emperor'?"

"Well what can we do?" Matt pointed out. "Without our partners we're practically dead weight."

"That's true," Sora noted. "He could just use us as hostages if we interfered without protection."

"So we need to find everybody before we make an assault on the Emperor?" Kari questioned, looking around at the older children.

"Would it be any help though?" Matt pointed out. "If he can just keep them as rookies the whole time, it won't make much difference."

"We should still find them," Tk argued. "They could be in trouble, or even captured for all we know."

"Having everyone together would be ideal," Izzy admitted. "Although how we'll find them scattered throughout the entire digital world is anyone's guess. Not to mention how we'll make progress with seven rookies and one champion."

"Well our digivices are connected to them, right?" Joe said, thinking out loud. "Can we use that somehow?"

"I remember there being a radar on them," Mimi spoke. "But I think that was just for other digivices."

"Didn't you say your digivice start making noise, Tai?" Sora remembered. "Right before you were pulled in?"

"It did," Tai began, looking down at the small device nestled in his left hand. "What about Davis? His digimon didn't dedigivolve like everyone else. Maybe we can use that?"

"You really want to bring someone else into this?" Matt asked, sounding almost disgusted.

"Only if he's willing!" Tai protested. "If he and Yolei are part of a new group of Chosen then we need to help them understand what they're getting involved in. It's beter if we're there to help them and make sure they don't get in over their heads."

"It could make things a lot easier," Izzy admitted. "Finding our partners could be impossible if the Emperor has managed to capture any of them and we have no way of fighting against his armies."

"So we'll just bring new people in because it's easier for us?" Matt said challengingly. "You told us that the Emperor doesn't even have any ultimate digimon under his control. They're all champion and rookie digimon."

"Tai and Koromon did destroy an entire army by themselves," Gatomon pointed out.

"Without his Spires and Rings, this Emperor doesn't really seem like much a threat," Joe said.

Patamon nodded.

"That's true," the little rookie nodded. "If there were more ultimate digimon around then he probably wouldn't have lasted long."

"Yes but that doesn't matter since we can't even use champions other than Gatomon," Kari said.

There was some mumbling as the Chosen thought about how to proceed.

"We still have to do something," Tk spoke up. "The Emperor is still mind controlling innocent digimon and who knows what else. We have to fight back!"

"We're little more than useless right now," Matt said harshly. "Without being able to digivolve he's effectively crippled us."

"Tai had a point earlier," Kari said. "Davis and Veemon weren't affected. Their Armour Digivolving isn't affected by the Emperor's digivice."

"Just Davis won't be enough though, even with us backing him up."

"Hmm," Izzy muttered. "Spires and Rings. Does anything about the way this Emperor operates remind you of Etemon and Devimon?"

"The Dark Network and the Black Gears?" Sora remembered. "They are kind of similar."

"More refined versions almost," Izzy realised. "Perhaps the Emperor managed to get his hands on some of that data."

As the others continued to debate, suddenly the parallels became too clear. It was like a spark of dread shot through Tai's spine and he reached into his pocket and withdrew the pair of glasses he picked up in the digital world. Gold-rimmed and shaded lenses, it looked so grand as to be tacky. But that wasn't what made Tai bite his lip in anxiety; that was caused by the symbol stamped proudly in the middle.

"Does anyone recognise this?" Tai interrupted, showing everyone the glasses. "The Emperor dropped these during our fight."

The glasses were passed around as everyone continued the discussion, pausing only to give the symbol a glimpse before passing it on. Tai's hopes dimmed as each Chosen showed not even a flicker of recognition. Maybe he was just being paranoid? Just because that symbol aroused dread in him for some unplaced reason didn't mean it would for everyone else.

Then it got to Kari.

Gatomon hissed loudly at the glasses, grabbing them out of her partner's hands and studying them intently. Everyone paused in their conversations, startled at the sudden outburst. The champion's eyes were slits as she glared at the piece of metal held in her hands.

"What's wrong, Gatomon?" Kari asked. "Do you know it?"

"I'll never forget it," her partner answered, voice dangerously soft. "This is the symbol Myotismon had on his coffin."

Complete silence followed that revelation. Almost as one, the others looked towards Tai and Koromon, expression ranging from worry to pity to anger.

"It's not him," Tai spoke up, knowing with complete certainty. "He's gone for good. Trust me on this."

Gatomon's eyes were still slit in distaste, but she nevertheless handed the glasses back to Tai who pocketed them quickly.

"I don't think the Emperor is the main threat here," Tai said. "There are too many coincidences and this was the final proof we needed. I think this Emperor is being manipulated by someone or something."

'Like Neo was,' he thought to himself, even though he knew that particular comparison was shaky at best. 'This has to be handled carefully.'

"So we can't blame him for this?" Mimi clarified. "Good. I wouldn't feel comfortably fighting against a kid."

"We're dealing with an emotionally unstable kid, potentially being manipulated by something evil," Sora summarised. "But we don't know what this something is other than it has a connection to Myotismon."

"That is if Tai's right and Myotismon is actually dead," Matt pointed out. "Or it could still be coincidence and he's just an evil little prick."

"Or both," Joe casually added.

"I thought it was supposed to be impossible for there to be another 'Great Evil'," Tk suddenly mentioned. "I thought that was the whole point of the barrier."

"I gave up the DigiMental to create that barrier," Tai mentioned. "It should be effective."

"Unless it doesn't do what Gennai said it should do," Matt continued. "Or maybe it needed the crests after all and the DigiMental wasn't enough."

"We're not making any headway," Izzy decided, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "And it's getting late. We should decide on our next move before anything else."

"I think we should have a look at File Island," Sora suggested. "If he's using something based on the Black Gears then we'll probably find evidence there."

"We might also find some of our partners there as well," Joe pointed out.

"If he hasn't taken it over," Matt added in.

"What with BanchoLeomon there?" Sora pointed out doubtfully. "He probably doesn't even know it exists."

"I need to map out the digital world again and send an email to Gennai," Izzy said. "Hopefully he can help answer some questions. Everyone who isn't busy can meet up tomorrow after school. Hopefully I'll have some more answers by then."

They left the meeting with little more knowledge of what to do than they had when they began it. Then there was the myriad of excuses that people were busy tomorrow or had other things they needed to do.

It was all enough to make Kari throw up her hands in rage.

"It's like they don't even care!" she complained to Tai as they walked back. "They're all too busy thinking about why the Emperor is doing it and not how to stop him! Tk was right, we have to think of a way to stop him as soon as possible."

Tai carried a sleeping Koromon in his good arm, whilst Gatomon made her own way back. She was a champion and could easily take care of herself.

"He's still a kid, Kari," Tai pointed out. "And if there is something worse guiding him, we could catch it off guard."

"Or we waste our time investigating something that doesn't exist!" Kari reiterated. "I just don't understand why they're so reluctant to get involved. Don't they care?"

Tai hesitated to answer. Kari had joined a little late in their adventure and even then he had done his best to keep her and Tk away from the worst of the danger. She had never been told about what happened to Sora in the fight with Machinedramon. How Joe and Tk and Matt had come within a hair's breadth of death.

Those two didn't know what it was like to fight the enemy as a mega digimon. When you felt every blow you gave and received, rather than just watched. In some ways, Tai reflected, Takuya had been right. Both strategies had their advantages, he thought of the small boy laid up in bed after a defeat, and their disadvantages.

He couldn't blame the others for taking a cautious approach, even as the Emperor perpetuated suffering throughout his empire. However he couldn't help but feel that Kari and Tk didn't quite remember their adventure the way he and the older kids had.

They walked back home, Tai unable to breach the silence between them.

It wasn't until he was lying awake in bed a few hours later that the thought of talking to Neo and the others occurred to him.

* * *

The next day went by at a snail's pace for Kari. As she sat here doing nothing in class, the Emperor could be conquering more of the digital world. Mind controlling more digimon, even some they knew. Yet the rest of the Chosen were content to just wait around.

Tk seemed just as anxious about all of this as she did. His mind was clearly wandering throughout the day's classes and he failed to rise to even Davis' taunts. It was worrying. Davis, on the other hand, seemed as excitable as usual. Full of energy he kept glancing at her and Tk, as if they were just about to run off to the digital world any second. Something Kari was tempted to do if she was honest.

Of course Gatomon had taken Patamon and DemiVeemon away so they could amuse themselves whilst their partners were at school. Though they were staying close. Kari was pretty sure she caught a glimpse of them during lunch, they could hardly sneak off.

It wasn't long until it was lunch time and the class was dismissed for the moment.

Davis didn't waste any time before talking to Kari and Tk. They went to the computer room, which was mostly quiet during the lunch break.

"So what's happening?" he asked. "When are we going back to the digital world to kick some Emperor butt?"

"We're not," Tk answered, folding his arms.

"The others would rather go to File Island then help the digital world," Kari said. "They think the Emperor's being manipulated."

"Wait, so they're not going to do anything?!" Davis clarified. "Not even Tai?"

"Tai still hasn't been healed yet," Kari said, feeling like she should defend her brother. "I think he's worried about something."

"Like what?" Tk asked.

"Us probably."

"Well if they won't do anything, then we should!" Davis decided. "We can go there and help deal with the Emperor ourselves."

"Just the three of us?" Tk said, looking around as if one of the older kids would appear from nowhere. "I don't know."

"I think we should," Kari decided. "We have Gatomon and Flamedramon if anything happens, right? I don't know about you guys but I wouldn't be able to live with myself just sitting around and doing nothing. Not while the digital world is in danger."

"I second that!" another voice said, as Yolei appeared from around the corner.

"H-how long were you listening in on us?" Kari stammered.

"I followed you guys up here because I knew you were going to be doing this digimon stuff," Yolei answered, logging on to a computer. "And I want in!"

She took out her red digivice, looking at it oddly.

"If this is going to be an adventure then I want to be a part of it."

The computer reacted to the presence of a digivice, immediately conjuring the image of the gate.

"Yolei, it's dangerous," Tk explained. "It's not going to be easy."

"What Tk said," Patamon spoke, floating in from some of the rafters below. "There were times before where we nearly all died."

Gatomon and DemiVeemon also jumped down next to their partners as well.

"Were you all listening in?" Davis demanded.

"Yep!" DemiVeemon giggled. "You're really predictable, Davis!"

"Well I don't care about the danger," Yolei continued. "I just want to go to the digital world and with this thing I can!"

"It looks like you can't now, the gate is closed," Tk observed, looking at the computer screen.

It was displaying a completely red screen.

"You'll have to wait until it opens," Kari said. "That's how we were able to go in after Tai yesterday, because it was open."

"Well I say it should open now!" Yolei exclaimed, shoving her digivice at the screen. "Open!"

Kari moved forwards to put a hand on Yolei's shoulder.

"Look Yolei, it's not going to-"

 _Boop! Beep!_

The gate opened.

All seven of them only had time to gape before the screen glowed and with a bright flash of light they were sucked in.

* * *

 **A/N: Please leave your thoughts and comments and criticisms in the reviews!  
**

 **To answer some questions:**

 **Nightshadegirl:** I got the name yuggoth from Tamers, which is named after a planet in the Cthulu Mthyos. I thought it would be more fitting to name the digital world after a planet for eldritch abominations. A SIGINT is essentially a system that intercepts signals, which is what Hypnos is built upon. Yes, it's Yamaki, although he will be slightly different to his tamers portrayal.

 **Sandyheart:** Tai is definitely not someone to underestimate. He nearly ended the Emperor's reign in chapter one after all. He's still a main character of course, but the focus won't always be on him.

 **Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius:** I'm relenting and putting pairings in this story although they will take a while to develop. I can say that there won't be SoraXMatt though, but I won't say anything else.

 **Thank you everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed for your support! Next chapter will see Yolei get more involved as the older kids learn more about the new rules in this digital world. The Emperor will also begin to even things up.  
**

 **HUGE thanks for all your support. Next chapter will be on 6th July.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Edited for Grammar 03/08/15: Thanks to Captain Nice Hardrive**


	4. Chapter 3: Unexpected Relations

**A/N: Here we go everyone! Latest chapter for KOR. Thanks for all your support so far!  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.**

* * *

 **Unexpected Relations**

Iori Hida made his way towards the school's Lost and Found. No one had been there this morning, so he now had to waste some of his lunch break to give back this strange device. Taking it out of his pocket, Iori looked at it carefully. It was strangely heavy for its size and fit rather snugly into the palm of his hand.

He shook himself free of that temptation. There was no way he could keep the device; it didn't even belong to him. That would be tantamount to stealing it himself! However it had gotten inside his bag, it wasn't his, so he had to ensure it was reunited with its owner. That's what his Grandfather would expect from him; what his Father would expect from him.

'Then why don't I want to?' he thought, staring into the device's dark screen.

Why was this thing so alluring? Iori couldn't help but feel as if throwing it away would be like throwing away a part of his soul. But the right thing to do was return it. So that's what he would do.

Suddenly, the device let loose a bright light. Despite being blinding, the boy felt no need to cover his eyes. The screen had come to life! It displayed countless zeroes and ones before words flashed in front of his eyes.

"'Gate Opened'?" Iori read out loud, before gaping as the screen changed again.

Impossibly, the light expanded outside of its frame and formed a perfect circle with a red glowing arrow pointing forwards. It took a couple of moments for Iori to pick his jaw up off the ground and for his brain to start working again.

"A compass?" he muttered, turning the device and watching the arrow move to point in the same direction. "Wow, this thing must be expensive."

It was like something out of a movie. Nothing he had heard of in real life could create holographic images, even if it was just a compass.

Iori walked forwards; following the arrow for a few minutes. As soon as he reached a junction, the arrow shot towards the left and stayed there. He turned to the left, then to the right; the arrow swivelled to continue facing its direction.

'This isn't a compass,' the boy realised, as he continued to follow the arrow. 'It's leading me somewhere. But where? To its owner?'

The impossibility of that thought didn't even occur to him as he advanced along the path the arrow set for him. It took him through turn after turn, down corridor after corridor, and Iori's sense of anticipation grew and grew. The owner must have really missed this thing, it was amazing!

Soon, it led him to a door and without thinking he opened it up.

"The Computer Room?" Iori murmured, still following the arrow towards one of the computers.

He noticed it was the only one that was turned on and as soon as he drew near, the arrow vanished.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

A target symbol appeared on the centre of the device. Iori only had time to blink before the holographic compass vanished and the screen went dark once more.

'Wait, this is it?' he thought, looking at the computer in front of him. 'This can't be! Where's your owner? Why did you lead me to a computer?!'

He idly shook the device, but the screen stayed dark this time. Had he broken it somehow?

There was a strange window open on the monitor. It was a program he didn't recognise. There was a picture of what looked like a jungle in a small separate window to the side as well as a fat red cross with words emblazoned on it.

"'Gate Closed,'" Iori read slowly. "What does that mean?"

This was weird. What gate? This was a computer. Did it mean the school gate?

Something strange was going on here and Iori wanted no part of it. There were these strange lights then this device had purposefully lead him here to this computer and was now refusing to respond. Then there was some nonsense about gates opening and closing and it was all beginning to scare him a little. All he needed was for the device to suddenly know his name, then things would get really screwed up.

Or maybe this thing is trying to tell him something?

"Does the gate need to be open?" Iori wondered out loud, still holding the device.

The screen flickered for a moment. The colour flashed from red to green, then back to red in an instant. He froze, staring at the red cross on the screen.

"Open?" he asked hesitantly.

It flashed again.

Iori took a step back. This was too much for him to deal with. The computer was listening to him; it could understand him! He freaked out and ran out of the computer room, only pausing to slam the door behind him.

He ran through the corridors, a single idea in his mind. He'd report this to the head of the computer club, they'll know what to do! Of course, he didn't even realise that he pocketed the device in his haste and that the thought of returning it had never again entered his head.

* * *

"Open!" Kari yelled, thrusting her digivice towards the television sitting on the ground. "Open!"

There wasn't even a spark; never mind a powerful flash of light. The television just sat there smugly in the ground as if it had grown there. Of course, knowing the sheer randomness of the digital world, it probably had.

Tk and Davis were standing right behind the fuming girl and knew one of them was going to have to bite the metaphorical bullet. Tk was privately astonished at the sheer amount of energy Kari had. From their last adventure he hadn't interacted as much with her as with the others. She had been the last to join them, been in a different group when they were split up and then she got sick when they did reunite. He had always thought of her to be quiet and wise girl, but now it seemed clear she was more like her brother than he'd thought.

"I don't think it's working, Kari," TK said carefully. "The gate must have closed again."

"This is so stupid though," she complained, turning to face him. "Why did the gate have to open up at that exact moment?! Now we're stuck here!"

"Oh come on, Kari," Davis piped up cheerfully. "At least we can go fight the Emperor now. It's not like the older kids can stop us right now."

"But how are we going to get back?" Tk asked, levelling Davis with a look. "We could be stuck here for hours, maybe even days if the gate doesn't open."

"Days?!" Davis shrieked. "Are you serious? I didn't know that could happen!"

"And we don't even know where we are," Kari pointed out. "We could be on the other side of the digital world! The Emperor might be nowhere near us!"

"Wait! You mean we could stuck here in this jungle for days with nothing to do!?" Davis clarified.

"Welcome to our first adventure," Tk said. "There was literally nothing to do except travel and hope we'd eventually find a way home, back to our world."

His expression became dark and he looked at the ground, lost in his memories.

"It got rough sometimes."

Kari placed a comforting hand on Tk's shoulder and gave him what she hoped was a honest smile.

"Don't worry, you got back before so we'll get back this time," she declared. "We just need to make sure we don't lose our heads."

"Hey!" Davis interjected, moving between the two. "You're talking about me, aren't you?"

"Maybe a little," Kari admitted, smiling and giving Davis' shoulder an affectionate punch.

She missed the smug face he gave Tk over her shoulder and the perplexed look Tk returned.

Kari walked a couple of steps away, hand to her chin in thought.

'Alright then, we're in a bit of a situation,' she considered calmly. 'We can't go back because the gate's closed and it's all Yolei's fault that we got sucked in-'

"Wait a second, where's Yolei?!" she asked.

Gatomon chuckled, pointing behind her and further into the forest.

"She's back there having fun," the champion grinned.

"This place is fantastic!" Yolei screeched, running up to examine the trees and the flowers. "I'm actually in a whole new world! Look at these trees! What kind of trees are they? They have knots in their trunks, actual knots! And these flowers, they're huge! These bulbs are bigger than my head! There aren't any insects anywhere either? How does this place function without them?!"

"She really does seem to be enjoying herself," Tk noted, surprised at the girl's enthusiasm.

"What's so special about a tree?" Patamon asked. "You have those in your world, right?"

Davis just snorted and folded his arms.

"Yolei's such a nerd," he claimed. "I mean who cares about bugs and flowers when there's enemies to fight? The Emperor isn't just going to be sitting around like us. We need to get going and start fighting back!"

"I'm with ya Davis!" Veemon agreed, punching his palm. "I can't wait to get my hands on that Stingmon."

"Hey, what did you say about me?!" Yolei's voice came in as she stormed up to Davis. "Say it to my face if you're gonna talk about me!"

"I said you were a nerd!" Davis replied. "Who cares about insects and flowers-?"

"Guys, guys," Tk stepped quickly in-between the two. "We need to focus on getting home and not start fighting."

"You want to go home already?" Yolei said, shocked. "We just got here and... just look at this place! We were in school a minute ago and now we're in a jungle! Isn't that just amazing?!"

Davis mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'geek', but thankfully Yolei didn't hear.

"Er, yeah it's amazing," Tk answered, trying to sound sincere. "Never seen it before. But we won't last long out here without preparing properly."

'Thank you, Tk,' Kari thought gratefully, before getting back to the task at hand. 'At least someone is still acting sane. Now, what would Tai do in this situation?'

"So then," Kari continued. "What should we do first? Let's put it to a vote."

"I think we should make sure the surroundings are safe," Tk stated. "We don't want to get ambushed by some feral digimon when we least expect it."

"Good idea, Tk."

"I think we should go search for some of those Control towers," Davis spoke up loudly. "That's why me and Veemon are here; to show the Emperor who's boss!"

"I'm voting for Tk," Patamon spoke up quickly.

"Well I'm voting for Davis," Veemon said loyally. "Whatever that means."

"Well I'm going to vote for Tk's idea," Yolei said. "I definitely don't want to fight any megalomaniacs or get eaten by some digimon."

"Fine, I didn't want your vote anyway," Davis growled. "You're with me, right Kari?"

Kari had to stop herself from sighing. Why did he have to make things so difficult?

"Sorry Davis, but I have to go with Tk's idea," Kari responded, wincing at the look on her friend's face. "We might not even be near any of the Control Spires."

"I have to agree with Kari," Gatomon piped up, completely ruining Davis' chances. "Plus there's a very easy way to determine if any Control Spires are near and get a good look at the area at the same time. Right Patamon?"

The little rookie nodded, before taking off from Tk's head and into the sky. Tk's digivice glowed and in a bright flash of light Patamon was replaced by a new figure.

"Angemon!" the champion cried out proudly, before flying high above the treeline and towards the sky.

"Well it looks like there aren't any Control Spires nearby then," Gatomon concluded, smirking.

Meanwhile Yolei gaped, staring upwards at Angemon with something akin to awe.

"Since when could that cute little thing become an angel?!" she hollered. "Where did all that extra mass come from?"

"Tk," Angemon called out from above. "I can see a village over in that direction."

"That's good to hear," Gatomon said. "I don't know about any of you, but I'm starving."

The realisation that they had essentially skipped lunch to be here suddenly occurred to the four humans. A chorus of rumbling stomachs soon followed.

"Wow, this trip was really poorly timed," Tk tried to joke.

"Are you saying it was my fault?" Yolei asked sharply.

"N-no I was just... saying that, er," he floundered.

"That it is your fault," Davis finished.

"Guys!" Kari shouted before Yolei could round on Davis again. "The sooner we get going, the sooner we can eat."

She began to walk in the direction Angemon was pointing, Gatomon following after her. Was this what Tai had to deal with during their last adventure? Did everyone just bicker all the time? Who knows how he stayed sane if that was the case. They'd barely been here ten minutes and Kari was ready to strangle Yolei and Davis if they kept arguing.

"You're doing well, Kari," Gatomon whispered to her. "Everyone's together and moving. So don't worry too much, Tai would be proud."

Kari managed a smile back as some of the pressure eased.

"Thanks Gatomon," she answered, giving her partner a quick hug. "I needed to hear that."

* * *

"Atchoo!" Tai sneezed hard then wiped his nose with his good hand.

'I'd better not be coming down with a cold as well,' he thought grumpily as he looked out at the rest of his soccer team.

Thanks to his bad arm he wasn't allowed to play in the first match of the season, which had pissed off the coach quite a bit. Especially since the school had gotten a call from the hospital which said his arm wouldn't heal for another month at least. As punishment for screwing his team over the day before their first game, Tai had been made to come anyway, just so that he could distribute the water to all his teammates.

Oh and so they could hurl abuse at him as well.

Tai ground his teeth in silent anger. The other team was winning; which wasn't improving his mood at all. The thought that he could have helped if he hadn't been so stupid haunted him constantly. If only he hadn't underestimated that kid this wouldn't have happened and he'd be playing out there.

Even worse, if his arm mysteriously healed now, that would gain everyone's attention. He and his family could be accused of lying to the school about his injury, or the hospital could be sued for a misdiagnosis. Best case scenario, he would be considered even more of a freak by his teammates than he already was.

"Taichi?" called out a surprised voice.

Tai looked up to see someone wearing the opposing teams colours running towards him. It took him a couple of moments to recognise the boy.

"Hideto!" he cried out, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Well you are playing against my school," the eighteen year old laughed. "Although I'm only a substitute for the team; I haven't really been practising as much as I should have. What are you doing here?"

"Water boy," Tai grumbled, holding up a used water bottle.

"Ouch, that's rough," the older boy said, clasping Tai's uninjured hand in greeting. "I take it you didn't realise it was my school?"

"I had other things on my mind."

"I'll bet," Hideto said, sitting down next to Tai. "Like why your arm is bandaged, I bet?"

Tai gave a forced chuckle.

"Yeah, that as well," he said, before turning serious. "Actually I was meaning to talk to you guys about that."

"Want us to beat someone up for you?"

"Not quite," Tai snorted. "I meant _you guys._ "

Understanding dawned on Hideto's face.

"You mean digital world stuff?" he clarified, expression turning grave.

Tai nodded.

"There's this kid in the digital world, goes round and calls himself 'the Digimon Emperor'," Tai explained, watching Hideto carefully for his reaction. "He's been slowly taking over the entire digital world for the last few months and we've only just found out."

"Did he do that to your arm?"

"...Yeah," Tai admitted reluctantly, his face reddening. "He got the drop on me, don't tell anyone."

"Alright," Hideto chuckled. "So what do you want from us then?"

"I need your help. Stuff's happening in the digital world that I don't understand. The Emperor has a digivice that stops us from digivolving, uses Dark Rings to control other digimon, and that's just the start."

"Sounds rough," Hideto said, pretending he was watching the game. "When do you want to meet up?"

"As soon as possible."

"Well Mari's at college, so I can't guarantee everyone will be there," Hideto began, thinking hard. "But we'll see. Everyone will be happy to meet with you."

"Thanks, Hideto," Tai said gratefully. "You're a good friend."

"I'd hope so," he answered. "I do try my best. Although you could get in touch more often. The digital world being in danger isn't the only reason to say hello, you know?"

"Right," Tai said a little embarrassed. "I'll bring Koromon as well."

"Rei'll love that. Wizardmon would probably be glad he isn't the only digimon there as well."

"How has Sigma kept him a secret for so long?"

"I think his parents know," Hideto guessed. "Wizardmon can usually pass as a normal person."

"That's insane," Tai finally said. "Four years and no one even suspects..."

* * *

After only a few minutes of walking; the trees began to part and revealed a small stone wall. It was about twice their height and had a large opening with two digimon standing on either side. Behind the wall, other small buildings made of wood and stone could be seen, with a large temple structure further behind.

They all crouched behind some bushes near the treeline, watching the guards carefully. Angemon had returned to being Patamon and was back to sitting on Tk's head.

"Whoa," Yolei gaped, before gushing. "They're so cute!"

"Those are Bearmon," Gatomon explained. "They're rookie level, vaccine-type digimon who love to chop down trees with their bare hands. Call them cute to their faces and see what happens."

"Maybe they'll be friendly," Tk suggested.

"If we explain our situation they might be nice and share some of their food with us," Kari decided.

"They might even know where we are, right?" Davis asked.

She nodded.

"But we'll need to be polite," Kari emphasised.

"Just leave it to me," Davis said, before standing up and walking towards the gate.

"Davis!" Kari hissed.

"I'll help him!" Veemon yelled out, sprinting out towards his partner.

"Hey there guys!" Davis called out to the two guard and waving. "We come in peace."

Immediately, the two Bearmon turned and charged at Davis, claws gleaming.

"Vee Head-butt!"

Veemon shot right past his partner and slammed into one of the Bearmon's stomachs, knocking him into the wall. Davis tried to back off but tripped over and landed on his back. The other Bearmon advanced on him menacingly. Davis tried to shield himself with his hands and then a blur to shoot right past him.

"Lightning paw," Gatomon declared, idly slapping the other Bearmon into unconsciousness.

The others ran up to Davis.

"Are you ok?" Kari asked, helping him up.

"You idiot," Yolei scolded. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Yeah, well I didn't did I?"

"Davis, you need to be more careful," Tk warned. "Not all digimon are friendly. Some will just attack for no reason."

"Hey you!"

"Uh oh," Patamon said, as numerous other Bearmon began pouring out of the gate.

"Shit," Kari swore as they were quickly surrounded. "Get ready to digivolve, Gatomon."

"Look!" Tk pointed as what looked like two far larger and more dangerous looking digimon came out of the gate.

"Grizzlymon," Veemon recognised, standing in front of Davis. "Those are champions."

"I take back what I said earlier," Yolei said, as the group was forced together by a sea of growling faces. "These things aren't cute at all!"

A tense silence saturated the clearing, broken only by the occasional growls of the Bearmon. The rookie digimon all looked furious. Like they would rip them apart without hesitation, but something was staying their hand. The two Grizzlymon looked similarly angry, but were far more controlled about it. They merely glared at them. A glare their partner digimon were eager to return.

"So about a hundred rookies and two champions against the three of us?" Veemon summarised, a wide grin on his face. "That's almost unfair."

"We're not fighting them if we can help it," Kari ordered. "They're waiting for someone."

She was soon proven correct. The sea of Bearmon parted as another large digimon walked towards them. Tk gaped at the somewhat familiar sight approaching them.

"Is that Monzaemon?" he whispered.

"No!" Patamon answered back anxiously. "That's a WaruMonzaemon. He's an ultimate and usually very grumpy."

"We may have a bit of trouble with him," Gatomon admitted.

WaruMonzaemon approached slowly, each step closer making the ground shake just a little bit more. He soon stopped and watched them carefully with large red eyes. Kari felt Yolei shaking behind her and silently grabbed the younger girl's hand.

"What business do four humans and their pets have in my village?" WaruMonzaemon asked in a gravelled voice.

"Pets?!" Veemon cried out, raising his fists.

Gatomon bristled at the implication and even Patamon glared up at the ultimate, his wings pressed hard against his back in rage. The digimon surrounding them reacted similarly, getting ready to defend their leader from attack.

"They're not pets," Kari said quickly before anyone could attack. "And we're just here to talk, not to fight."

"My two unconscious guards would argue differently," WaruMonzaemon countered. "Though it would not be the first time we've heard lies from your kind."

"Hey, those two attacked me first!" Davis spoke up. "We were just defending ourselves!"

"What do you mean, not the first time?" Tk asked, gripping his digivice tightly. "What other humans have you met?"

"Word of the Emperor and his deeds have long reached us," WaruMonzaemon explained, pointing an accusing finger at them. "You are all probably agents of his trying to conquer our village."

"We're not agents of the Emperor," Yolei argued. "I've never even met the guy!"

"Just because we're humans doesn't mean we're with him," Kari said, like Tk preparing herself in case they attacked. "We're actively fighting against him! We're the digidestined!"

"Silence!" WaruMonzaemon shouted. "I don't believe you, so there's only one way to decide who's right!"

The Bearmon around them practically exploded in excitement as WaruMonzaemon said this. They beat their paws against the ground and the Grizzlymon roared at the children.

"Trial! By! Combat!" WaruMonzaemon screamed, as the cheers around them became deafening.

Then the Bearmon began to move. The rookies herded the children inside the gates and towards the massive temple at the back of the village.

"Stay together!" Tk yelled as they were shoved forwards amongst the tide of Bearmon. "Safety in numbers!"

"No really?!" Yolei yelled back, barely able to stay on her feet.

The seven of them were soon thrown into the temple, which on the inside seemed to resemble an arena more than a temple. They were thrown down onto the circle at the lowest point as all the Bearmon began to scrabble for seats. Davis looked around as WaruMonzaemon entered the large room, flanked by the two Grizzlymon.

"So is it just me or does this kind of look like a colosseum?" he asked, looking around.

"It does," Tk agreed, although he couldn't help but smile. "This is definitely bringing back memories."

"So what do you think he meant by 'trial by combat'?" Yolei whimpered.

"That we're gonna have to fight our way out," Veemon grinned, putting his fists up and punching the air excitedly.

"This will be Trial by Combat," WaruMonzaemon declared, sitting upon an ornate stone throne. "You choose one of you to fight my finest warrior. If you win then we'll feed you; if you lose then you'll feed us."

He then laughed and the Grizzlymon joined in with him. Then at his command one of the Grizzlymon jumped down, huffing at them challengingly.

"Bring it on little pets!" it growled. "I could take on all of you!"

"Ha! My sister has tougher looking teddy bears than you!" Davis taunted.

The Grizzlymon turned towards Davis.

"I'll enjoy eating you," it smiled widely.

"Like I'll let you near him!" Veemon roared, finally reaching the end of his rope and charging forwards.

"Yeah, get him Veemon!" Davis cheered.

"No Veemon, we could send out Angewomon!" Kari screamed after the enraged rookie in vain.

"They're both as hard-headed as each other," Tk noted grimly. "If Veemon doesn't win this..."

"Then we'll digivolve and run," Kari decided, eyeing the jeering crowds around them. "There's just too many to fight."

"This is really bad," Yolei summarised.

Veemon charged towards the Grizzlymon, fist reared back and ready to punch.

"Vee-Punch!" he screamed, throwing himself forwards.

Grizzlymon simply caught his attack in his oversized fist and flung Veemon straight into the nearest wall. Veemon screamed as he hit the stone hard enough to crack it and slid slowly down to the ground. Grizzlymon grinned as he approached the downed digimon.

"Veemon, get up!" Davis yelled. "You have to win this!"

"Davis, he's only a rookie!" Kari pointed out, annoyed. "You have to digivolve him!"

"How do I do that?"

"Do the same thing you did last time!" Tk said exasperated. "He's suffering out there!"

"I don't know what I did last time!"

"Vee Head-butt!" Veemon called out, leaping towards the champion's stomach.

Grizzlymon just swatted him away in mid-air, sending Veemon skidding across the stone floor. The rookie staggered back to his feet, slowly putting up his fists as the champion walked towards him leisurely. Veemon growled and charged again, only to be casually swatted aside once more. This time, the Grizzlymon's claws drew blood and Veemon screamed as he was sent flying across the stone floor, blood spattering the floor as he flew.

"No, Veemon," Davis murmured. "There's got to be something I can do."

He looked down at his blue digivice, desperately pressing every button to try and get it to work. Then the screen showed the DigiMental of Courage.

'It had something to do with this,' Davis realised. 'But how do I use it?! Think! For once just think!'

He had been looking at a huge explosion in the sky as they flew towards it. He had been holding onto the egg in one hand and his digivice in the other. Kari had been ahead of him with Angewomon and for the briefest moment, as the shockwave had knocked the two angels carrying them for a loop, Davis had never been so afraid.

Then he had seen the determination in Kari's face, in her partner's face; as the two continued to fly forwards anyway, despite the danger. An unknown feeling stirring in his heart, he had clutched his hands tightly and urged Angemon onwards. There had been a bright orange light and he fell.

And Flamedramon caught him.

"Courage," Davis murmured, drawing a couple of confused glances.

'It uses my courage!'

The Grizzlymon stood over Veemon, who could only look up in anger. The champion wasn't grinning. He had gotten bored of toying with his opponent and was now ready to finish it. He raised his claw, which began to glow. Everything began to move in slow motion for Davis as he looked on.

He saw Kari and Tk start to yell at their partners to help, to save Veemon's life, but there was no way they could make it, not from here.

It was all up to him. If he failed then Veemon would die and they would all be killed. He was scared of failing; terrified of letting his partner, his best friend, these people die.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't try as hard as he could!

Bright orange light shot out from his digivice and into Veemon.

"Veemon armour digivolve to..."

Grizzlymon roared and brought his claw down with all the strength he could muster.

"Maul attack!"

 _Clang!_

The arena grew silent. His claw was stopped in mid strike by another.

Grizzlymon's eyes goggled out of his head at the now larger digimon kneeling in front of him and holding his attack at bay. The newly digivolved creature looked Grizzlymon straight in the eyes.

"Flamedramon," he spoke with an air of finality.

"Fl-Flamedramon?" Grizzlymon stammered.

Flamedramon pointed his other claw straight at the champions face.

"Fire Rocket."

Flames covered the champions head in an instant, the sheer impact of the fireball knocked Grizzlymon off his feet and backwards through the air. He tumbled away, blinded and deaf from the armour digimon's attack.

Flamedramon stood up fully, locking eyes with Davis and giving him a grin.

"About time," he said. "I was getting worried there."

"No problem, Vee- Flamedramon," Davis answered. "Now kick his butt!"

"Gladly."

He turned and leapt at Grizzlymon, who was still staggering to his feet. This time the champion couldn't stop the punch to his stomach and it knocked him onto his back. Scrambling desperately to his feet, Grizzlymon's claws glowed and he swung.

"Maul Attack!" he screamed.

But Flamedramon leapt backwards out of his reach, far too fast for the wounded champion to catch him.

"Too slow!" Flamedramon growled, shooting forwards again.

He landed two blows to the Grizzlymon's stomach, then leapt over the retaliatory swipe to land behind the champion.

"Over here!" he taunted, as Grizzlymon turned-

-Only to get head-butted hard in the face. Blood leaking from his multiple wounds, Grizzlymon fell onto his back, helpless. In an instant Flamedramon had landed on top of him, his claws to his neck.

"I. Win."

Grizzlymon glared briefly, before another vicious head-butt knocked him out cold.

Flamedramon hopped off the defeated champion and slowly made his way back to the others.

"Way to go, Flamedramon!" Davis cheered, a massive grin on his face. "I knew you could do it!"

"And I knew you would remember how to get me to digivolve," his partner answered, grinning back.

"You both did really well," Kari praised, more than a little relieved at how things turned out.

"Ha-ha! Yeah you rocked Flamemon!" Yolei cheered, before turning towards WaruMonzaemon sat on his throne. "You hear that?! We won! Now you have to feed us!"

The ultimate slowly stood up and addressed the crowd.

"The Digidestined are the winners," he yelled out. "I am a digimon of my word and they shall indeed be fed!"

Having declared this, most of the Bearmon seemed to decide this was enough. They began to pour out of the arena in droves, the other Grizzlymon only stopped to grab the other before leaving.

WaruMonzaemon then walked down towards the Chosen gesturing for some of the Bearmon to get food for their guests. As soon as the ultimate drew near, their digimon partners moved in front of the humans, making WaruMonzaemon stop in his tracks.

"That was a good fight," he complimented without a hint of a grudge in his voice. "It was dynamic and entertaining as well as teaching my young warrior some humility; a trait many young ones seem to lack these days. Really got my old blood boiling, ha-ha!"

This did not make them lower their guard.

"I will keep my word and you're welcome to stay here for as long as you need," the ultimate declared, as several Bearmon returned with plates of food. "That display proved to me beyond all doubt that you are indeed the Digidestined, as you said you were."

"You've heard of us?" Tk asked, as the Bearmon placed the food in front of the group.

"Of course," WaruMonzaemon said, now smiling kindly. "There are scarce few who haven't. The caretaker never stopped telling stories about your deeds and he practically raised almost everyone by himself. If half of what he claims is true then my warrior is lucky to be alive. I thank you for sparing him."

"Er, you're welcome?" Flamedramon responded.

"Anyhow, enjoy your stay digidestined!" WaruMonzaemon said, waving as he walked away. "We thank the Great One for the honour of having you here!"

They all stared after the ultimate in shock.

"Well, that was weird," Yolei said. "He turned out to be a nice guy after all."

"Look at all this food they brought us!" Patamon said, amazed. "It's incredible!"

"As long as it's real," Tk muttered, before taking a bite of an apple. "Definitely tastes good though."

They all sat down and began to dig into the wondrous pile of food that had been gathered for them.

"At least we're getting lunch today," Kari said sadly. "Even if it is a couple hours late."

"We're going to be killed when we get back aren't we?" Tk joked. "Hey cheer up, Kari. You see I've been thinking."

"Did it hurt?"

"Ha-ha," he responded. "But seriously I've been thinking, what if when the gate opened earlier it wasn't just random chance? What if the digital world wanted us to be here?"

Kari frowned.

"What makes you say that?"

"Think about it. Things always happen in the digital world for a reason. Maybe it wanted ua at this specific location for some reason."

"Hmm, maybe..."

Next to them, Yolei was interrogating facts about the digital world out of Gatomon.

"So there aren't any animals here in the digital world?" Yolei asked curiously.

"Nothing apart from fish," the champion confirmed.

"Th-then where does the meat come from?" Yolei asked, horrible thoughts going through her mind as she eyed the large amounts on their plates. "It isn't digimon meat, right?"

"Nah, digimon don't leave bodies," Gatomon answered casually, biting a particularly large chunk of flesh off the bone. "Meat is grown in the digital world."

"Grown?"

"Yep, grown in the ground like plants; they're called meat farms," Gatomon explained. "I'm surprised you didn't know this. It's pretty basic."

"But how is that possible? Can you just grow different kinds of meat here? Are they their own separate plant species? Do they have seeds? Can you plant a meat plant back home?"

 _Beep, beep! Beep, beep! Beep, beep!_

'Dodged that bullet,' Gatomon thought in relief as the curious girl became distracted.

"Err, guys?" Yolei said, taking out her digivice. "My thing is making noises."

"Too much information, Yolei," Davis responded instantly.

"Shut up, Davis!" she yelled. "I meant my digivice!"

Kari leant in for a closer look before it flashed a bright light and formed a holographic display.

"Wow," Yolei breathed, staring in wonder as a red arrow appeared on the screen. "I didn't know it could do that."

"Me neither," Kari agreed, unable to take her eyes off it.

"Hey, no fair! Mine never did that!" Davis proclaimed.

"It's pointing over towards the exit," Flamedramon noted. "Should we follow it?"

"It might be why we were brought here in the first place," Tk pointed out.

Unable to argue this point, they polished off what remained of the food and began to follow Yolei's digivice. It took them through an unseen side-passage and directly into a dead-end. After about a minute of arguing over what to do, Flamedramon settled the debate by breaking down the wall, revealing an unused set of stairs going downwards into darkness.

They quickly filed down the stairs, led by the light of Yolei's digivice and Flamedramon's fire attacks. They came to a set of passages that mirrored the ones above as well as another underground arena, directly below the one they had been fighting in. It was identical in practically every way that they could see.

"I'm beginning to think these Bearmon didn't build this place," Yolei pointed out, eyeing the moss covered walls with disgust.

"Stay together," Flamedramon commanded. "It's dark and we don't want to lose anyone."

As if that was the magic words, flames roared to life around them. The entire arena was lit up completely, proving it was indeed identical to the one above. Except instead of a stone throne at the far end there was a stone altar and resting on the altar was what looked like a small egg.

"Well, er... never mind then," Flamedramon added sheepishly.

"Is that a DigiEgg?" Kari asked, pointing towards the altar.

"I think it might be another DigiMental," TK answered, trying to see. "I can't tell which one, it's too far away."

"It must be for me!" Yolei cried out happily, running towards the altar.

"Wait a minute, Yolei!" Kari yelled as the floor began to shake.

A section of the floor slid away, separating Yolei from the rest of the group. The sound of ancient gears grinding against one another could be heard as an old platform was raised, revealing a very familiar figure.

"Oh no," Tk paled, recognising the monster. "How did this thing get here?!"

"Gatomon, you're up!" Kari said a little panicked, also recognising the creature.

" _Weapon systems online,"_ the digimon spoke in a metallic voice. " _Tankdramon combat ready._ "

"Shit, it's an ultimate," Gatomon hissed, moving forwards. "You guys get back, this is gonna get messy!"

A flash of light and Angemon joined her and Flamedramon as their partners ran away. Yolei behind the creature also took that as her que to run. She sprinted towards the altar as quickly as she could, praying that the mutant tank monster from hell wouldn't turn around.

"Yolei's right behind it," Angemon whispered.

"I know," Flamedramon answered. "Let's hope it doesn't notice her."

"We'll keep its attention on us," Gatomon decided. "We'll give her time to get away."

"It's going to be difficult," Angemon noted. "There's not much room to fly around in here."

" _Hostiles targeted,_ " Tankdramon stated, its eyes glowing red as it focused on the three digimon in front of it. " _Engaging._ "

Two massive Gatling guns began to spin. The three digimon jumped away as the floor was ripped apart by a hailstorm of bullets.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried, unleashing a blast of holy energy at the creature's chest.

It took the attack with barely any pause and swung its Gatling gun towards him.

"Lightning Paw!"

Gatomon attack smacked into the barrel of Tankdramon's gun, sending its aim wide.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon yelled out from the side, flinging everything he had at the powerful digimon.

The fire simply had no effect on the creature and flung its arm to the side to swat the smaller digimon. Gatomon took the opportunity to jump towards the ultimate's head and drove her claws into its eyes. She then quickly jumped away as Angemon gathered himself for another hit.

"Hand of Fate!"

The holy beam of energy lanced towards the digimon and struck it right in the face.

Tankdramon didn't as much as flinch. Instead it turned both its guns towards Angemon, knowing they couldn't both be knocked away.

" _Blast Gatling._ "

It wasn't so much a storm as a sea of bullets that shot towards the poor champion. Angemon darted this way and that, trying to dodge as many as he could, but even with Gatomon and Flamedramon doing their bests he still got struck and fell to the ground in a heap.

"We need more firepower!" Gatomon roared towards their partners.

"Alright then," Tk said, gathering himself. "Get ready Angemon!"

The Crest of Hope glowed brightly on Tk's chest as he gripped his digivice tightly.

Angemon glowed with power as his form slowly began to change.

"Angemon digivolve to..."

" _Blast Gatling._ "

The ultimates attack went unimpeded towards the bright light, striking Angemon mid-digivolution. Tk shrieked with sudden pain, holding his stomach as the sound of shattered glass filled the chamber.

The bright light simply came apart and an unconscious Tokomon bounced off the stone floor and lay there still.

"No, Tokomon-" Tk choked, doubled over in pain.

Davis and Kari stared in uncomprehending horror.

'The delay,' Kari remembered suddenly with a dawning despair. 'We forgot about the delay!'

Tankdramon immediately turned towards the two remaining digimon, Gatlings whirring.

'He won't give us time to digivolve further,' Kari realised.

"Run Gatomon!" she cried out at her stunned partner.

This seemed to bring the feline back to life and she pushed Flamedramon out of the way of another hail of bullets. The two remaining digimon were utterly incapable of damaging the ultimate they were fighting. The two were both faster and able to use the limited space to avoid Tankdramon's attacks, but it wouldn't last forever. The two digimon would tire or slip up and eventually get torn apart by countless bullets.

There was nothing they could do! It was over, Kari realised sinking to her knees.

On the other side of the arena, Yolei watched all this with a growing sense of dread. She had ducked behind the altar and was now taking a peak at the battle that was happening beyond. They were losing the fight and losing it badly. She was so scared her knees were knocking together.

But what could she do?

Yolei nearly smacked herself in the head. The DigiMental of course. Maybe she could help out somehow. She just had to raise her head above the platform, not get shot, and then grab the egg. It sounded simple enough. Swallowing hard, Yolei took a quick peak to check the Tankdramon was facing the other direction, before standing up and quickly grabbing the DigiMental and bringing it to her chest.

She barely had time to think 'that was easy' before a bright light shot out of where the DigiMental had been. A small birdlike creature soon formed in the light and opened its eyes to look directly at her. It flipped down gracefully from its perch as the light faded and bowed.

"Salutations, Chosen Child! I am Hawkmon and I must say it is an absolute pleasure and privilege to meet-SQUAWK!"

The wall above them exploded as several hundred bullets shattered the stone behind them like it was made of sugar glass. Hawkmon dived behind the altar with Yolei to take cover from the debris.

"Nice to meet you too," Yolei answered, tears of fear in her eyes. "But can you hurry up and digivolve? We need you to beat that!"

Hawkmon blinked and took a quick peak from behind the altar at what the other two were fighting. He shuddered, before composing himself.

"I'm flattered at the degree to which you have faith in me, but I fear I may not be able to live up to your standards," he described. "And you never gave me your name, madam."

"It's Yolei and I'm not a madam!" she yelled back. "You don't need to beat him, just distract him long enough for all of us to get out of here!"

"Well that I think I can do," Hawkmon said. "If I can digivolve that is."

"Oh cool. How do I do that?"

"Y-you mean you don't know?"

"No."

"Oh my," Hawkmon murmured. "We may be in a spot of trouble then."

"No, I can figure it out!" Yolei decided, closing her eyes and trying to think.

How Tk and Kari do it? Patamon just became Angemon instantly and she hadn't even seen Gatomon digivolve yet. Was there even any logical thought to it at all?

'No! Think Yolei! Analyse, analyse!' she thought to herself. 'Each time they digivolved, their digivice glowed. For Tk is white and just now yellow. Then with Davis it was orange. Does the colour indicate something? Oh, Davis muttered something to himself, what was it?'

 _"Courage," David murmured, a look of epiphany on his face._

'Courage? So I just have to be brave?' she figured. 'No that's stupid, I'm here aren't I? That's pretty brave already! It has to be something else but what?! Or does the colour orange indicate courage? Kari mentioned using virtues to digivolve, so does each one have a different colour to signify it?'

Yolei took a brief look at the egg she was holding. It was mostly yellow, but the strange symbol in the middle was purple.

'The image on Davis' digivice had an orange symbol,' Yolei remembered from what she had seen. 'But there's nothing indicating what this could represent.'

"I can't figure it out," she said, glaring at the DigiMental of Something. "I haven't got enough information."

"Maybe I could suggest something," Hawkmon said. "What was it that brought you here? Maybe that'll give you a clue."

'Why am I here? An accident,' she thought to herself bitterly. 'Maybe this is the DigiMental of Accidents, would suit me well.'

Why are you here?

'I can't believe how stupid I was,' she lamented, thinking back to when she had ordered the gate to open. 'It's my fault that everyone's going to die, all because I was too impatient. All because I was too curious to see the digital world later and wanted to see it now. Because I was too curious to see where my digivice was leading me instead of thinking about the consequences. I just wanted to learn more about this world-'

"Miss Yolei!"

'I just wanted to learn more about the digimon who lived here-'

"Miss Yolei!"

'How things worked and why-'

"Yolei!" Hawkmon screeched in her face, waking her up. "It's working!"

"Huh?"

Yolei looked down and saw the screen on her digivice glowing brightly and the egg radiating a purple aura. It was like two wires suddenly connected in her brain. The desire of knowledge! That was what triggered it!

"This is the DigiMental of Knowledge!" Yolei realised happily.

A bright purple glow instantly enveloped Hawkmon as the DigiMental vanished from Yolei's hands.

"Hawkmon Armour digivolve to... FlyBeemon!"

A slightly larger, red and black armoured digimon now stood where Hawkmon once stood.

"Thank you, Miss Yolei," he said. "Now stay comfortable while I teach this reprobate a lesson in manners!"

FlyBeemon shot into the air and straight towards the battle.

Gatomon and Flamedramon were panting, both ready to give out. Tankdramon had kept them on the ropes, but it wasn't much longer they could dodge his attacks. The robot digimon didn't tire or get bored, he would just continue to shoot until he won.

Then Gatomon caught a flash of red in the corner of her eye, just as Tankdramon levelled his guns at them.

"Lightning Sting!" FlyBeemon cried out, shooting lightning out of his arms and at Tankdramon's unguarded back.

The robot jerked unnaturally, paralysed by the sudden influx of electricity and Gatomon saw her chance.

"Kari! Digivolve me now!"

Snapping out of her shock, Kari nodded at her partner and focused on accessing her Crest of Light. A sense of calmness cam over her as she did so, easily replacing the panic she had felt earlier. Her chest glowed pink, revealing the incredible power of the Crest of Light.

Her whole body glowed white with power as she sent it all along her bond towards Gatomon.

Tankdramon recovered from the attack and swung around, trying to pepper FlyBeemon with his Gatling guns. But the armoured digimon was simply too fast, flying around and zapping it with his lightning stinger over and over again.

"Gatomon digivolve to..."

The feline digimon's shape slowly began to change, even as Tankdramon heard the cry and turned his guns on the glowing champion.

"Fire Rocket!"

"Lightning Sting!"

Fire and lightning came from either side, striking the ultimate in the centre of its head. The two attacks were able to do what one could not and the creature lost its sight for a brief moment. It was a moment too late.

"Angewomon!" the newly formed ultimate cried out, filling the chamber with light from sheer anger.

"Whoa," Yolei gasped, looking on in awe at the angelic figure floating near the top of the chamber.

"This fight is over," Angewomon declared with a tranquil rage, and held out her arms.

" _Blast Gatling._ "

"Heaven's Charm!"

The blast of powerful light swept through all the bullets, vaporizing everything in its way until it reached the Tankdramon itself. In a last desperate act, the ultimate held out it's arms as if it could stop the blast with sheer strength of arm. It fared no better.

The ultimate died without making a sound.

* * *

"You were awesome, Hawkmon!" Yolei cried out, hugging the rookie to her chest.

After saying goodbye at the village, they were all making their way back towards the television where they had first entered. Having found another DigiMental and a partner for Yolei, they were all in high spirits after such a trying day.

"Thank you very much for saying so, but I do feel that it was Salamon who stole the show, as it were," Hawkmon replied.

"We all did awesome," Davis said happily. "But you were definitely the best, Veemon!"

"Aw shucks, Davis. But Angewomon was really awesome too! Even if she did become a rookie again."

"Leave me alone!" Salamon said her head buried into her partner's chest. "I haven't been an ultimate in ages and I misjudged how much power to use."

"It's alright Salamon," Kari stated. "I understand. I mean me and Tk both forgot about the delay between champion and ultimate."

"Yeah," Tk said sadly, cradling Tokomon protectively. "I can't believe we forgot..."

"Don't be sad, Tk," Tokomon spoke up. "I'm feeling fine now. I'll be back to Patamon before you know it!"

"We were gone for a long time though," Kari said. "I think we might have missed P.E."

"Who cares," Yolei stated. "I have a super cool partner! That's way better than P.E!"

"Oh no!" Davis cried out, grabbing his head dramatically. "That means I missed Soccer practice! Coach is going to kill me!"

They all laughed a little at that.

"You'll be fine, Davis," Tk said as they reached the television. "After facing down that Grizzlymon, I can't imagine you being scared of Mr Yamada after that!"

"Oh believe me, he's far worse than any Grizzlymon!"

"The gate's still shut," Kari said, a sinking feeling in her heart.

"What? But we got what we came here for," Yolei said. "It should be open, right?"

"It should be," Tk agreed.

"Open," Kari commanded, pointing her digivice at the television.

There was no reaction. She fought against the impulse to put her foot through the screen.

"Does this mean we're stuck here?" Davis asked.

"We'll probably have to sleep in the Bearmon village," Veemon said sagely. "It could be worse."

"Indeed," Hawkmon spoke up. "Although their company isn't the most desirable, there are definitely far worse digimon we could be dealing with."

"No way," Yolei said, storming up towards the television and taking out her digivice. "Listen here, gate! We got what we came in here for so you have to let us go! So now open!"

She screamed this last part, pointing her digivice at the gate.

Kari sighed and put her hand on Yolei's shoulder.

"Look Yolei, somehow I doubt the gate can understand-"

 _Boop! Beep!_

The gate opened.

This time there was just enough time for Yolei to look smug and Kari to gape as all eight of them were brought back into the human world.

* * *

"I command you to digivolve!" the Emperor decreed, pointing his digivice at the latest batch of unlucky captured digimon.

The ring-bound rookies screamed as his digivices power flowed through them, twisting them and engorging their forms. Until their bodies could take it no longer and they exploded into data.

The Emperor cursed.

"Another useless batch of weaklings! What's the point of being able to make them digivolve if they're too weak to handle it?! Send in the next batch!"

Soon another ten rookies marched in obediently, standing in a direct line in front of their Emperor. He grinned as he raised his black digivice.

"I, your Emperor, command you all to digivolve!"

His digivice lit up again as, like before, the rookies all twisted and screamed, darkness overcoming their forms, before vanishing into data. The Emperor was about to give up entirely when he realised that one digimon still remained.

The darkness from his digivice had stretched it, but it had finally succeeded!

A champion digimon now stood in his presence. Eyes narrowing, his mind alight with success that he'd finally found a rookie strong enough to handle digivolving, the Emperor pointed his digivice at the dark creature again.

"I command you to digivolve again!"

It barely made a sound as more darkness flowed through the creature's body. This time the Emperor could feel the drain himself, but pride prevented him from stopping. If this stupid data creature could survive then so could he!

It felt like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds and now an ultimate digimon stood in front of the panting Emperor.

To think that he'd found a rookie capable of handling his power all the way to ultimate! What an incredibly rare find!

There was just one final test.

"Tell me digimon, who do you serve?" the Emperor demanded, eyeing the black spiral that had grown to fit the creature's arm.

The creature turned its eyes towards the defenceless human in front of it.

"I serve the Emperor," it growled.

The Emperor grinned.

* * *

 **A/N: Please tell me what you thought of the chapter in the reviews. What did you like, what didn't you like etc. It's always good to hear your views. It was very interesting hear what everyone thought of the planning from last chapter.  
**

 **Questions:**

 **chaosoulg:** Ryo won't really be involved with this story, but the special with Davis and Parallelmon, Tai will remember at some point.

 **DalekDavros:** There isn't really a specific reason that Mimi is still in japan rather than in america other than I want her to stay in the story.

 **Angelfish369:** Thank you. I'm glad to hear that you enjoy it so much! I apologise if I didn't make it clear. In ToAT Tai was 12, as he was 11 during V-Tamers and that took place a year beforehand. Everyone else was aged up to 12 (13 for Joe, 8 for Tk and Kari) as well to keep them the same age. Four years then passed and now Joe is 17, everyone else is 16, and Tk and Kari are now 12. Hope that cleared things up.

 **wentvoltage123:** Things won't be the same as they were in canon.

 **Mrguy22594:** Oh believe me, he'll get character development! Heaps of it!

 **CourageFlames:** Not straight away, otherwise there wouldn't be much of a story.

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed! It's great to hear your opinions on my work.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Next chapter Iori get's involved! It will be uploaded on the 13th July.**

 **Edited for Grammar on 03/08/15: Thanks to Captain Nice Hardrive**


	5. Chapter 4: Mysteries Deepen

**A/N: Here we are everybody. Latest chapter. Again there has been a break in action, although not quite like chapter two. This one is also a bit shorter than normal.  
**

 **HUGE thanks to everyone for their support. We've already hit over a hundred reviews and nearly twice as many favourites! Wow and only at chapter 4 (technically five if you include the prologue). Thanks again to everyone.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.**

* * *

 **Mysteries Deepen  
**

Iori's eyes practically bugged out of his head as he stared at the entangled pile of people and creatures lying on the floor of the computer room. This might not have seemed particularly strange by itself, but when the pile of people practically exploded out of a brightly glowing computer screen like they'd offended it somehow, it became much more noticeable.

He immediately recognised Yolei, no one else dyed their hair purple, but the other three humans were strangers to him. Two boys and one girl. The girl was wearing primarily pink and yellow colours whilst the boys were dressed very differently.

One had spiky brownish hair and was wearing what looked like a jacket with flames on the ridges. The other had a blonde mess of hair, hidden under a white fishing hat and was wearing far less eye-catching clothes.

But what drew Iori's gaze most of all was what was sitting on top of the pile of people.

There were four strange creatures looking around, obviously blinking at the lights in the room and clearly alive. Their eyes set upon him and the Head of the computer club, standing in the doorway, before freezing in clear alarm.

"Davis, get your butt out of my face!" the muffled voice of the girl who wasn't Yolei protested from somewhere in the pile. "I swear if this happens again..."

"Hey it's not me this time, Kari!" protested Davis, the one with the flame jacket. "I'm on the bottom!"

"I think that's me," the blonde admitted, his face red as he tried to pull himself out of the pile. "Sorry."

"Oh, sorry Davis," Kari said. "Tk, get your butt out of my face!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Stop acting like idiots!" Yolei screeched. "I can't get out until someone lets go of my arms!"

"I thought those were my arms!" protested Davis.

Iori watched the four continue to argue in complete bafflement. Did they not even see the creatures? Was- Suddenly wires in his brain began to connect. Was this what Yolei was talking about yesterday? Was she involved with the monsters that attacked Odaiba?

Whilst he was pondering this, the Head of the Computer Club seemed to have gotten over his shock. He strode forwards into the room like he owned it, frowning as he approached the group. Standing at nearly twice Iori's height, he made a threatening picture indeed and as he approached the small creatures seemed grew alarmed.

However the bickering children were all too focused on untangling themselves to notice.

"Um, Kari..." the one that looked like a dog said nervously.

"What is it, Salamon?" Kari asked, finally having managed to shift Tk, before she followed her partner's gaze. "Oh..."

"Kari, what's wrong?" Tk began, before looking up. "Uh oh."

"Um, hello sir," Yolei said quickly, an obvious note of panic in her voice. "This isn't what it looks like! We were just, napping! It's been an exhausting... couple of days at school you see. And these are... stuffed toys, that um, we need to sleep because they're comforting. They're definitely not alive or anything!"

She laughed nervously again.

"Should I know you?" Davis questioned, having removed himself from the pile and picked up DemiVeemon. "And I don't need a stuffed toy to go sleep, Yolei!"

"Davis!" Yolei hissed at him.

"So children," Koushiro Izumi, Head of the Computer Club, sighed as he looked down on the group. "I take it you went to the digital world after all?"

"What's it to you?" Davis asked defiantly. "Who are you and why should I care?"

"That's Izzy," Tk explained quickly. "He's one of the older Chosen and he has the Crest of Knowledge."

"Isn't that the DigiMental that Yolei found?" Davis clarified, looking between the nervous girl and the older boy.

"Of course," a small fuzzy ball with tiny wings spoke up in a high-pitched voice. "She digivolved me to FlyBeemon, allowing me to win the battle! It was a masterstroke of tactical brilliance!"

Izzy blinked a couple of times at the small in-training, as did Yolei, who looked rather stupefied.

"Hawkmon?" she asked the little ball, picking him up and holding him in her arms.

"Not at present," he replied. "I'm Poromon for the moment. The trip here forced me to revert, although I cannot imagine why."

"You're so cute!" Yolei squealed, hugging her partner to her chest tightly. "You can be badass and cute! Oh, you're just the best!"

"Miss Yolei, please… some space…"

Izzy smiled at the sight in nostalgia, before turning towards Tk and Kari with a stern look on his face.

"Hey before you say anything, it wasn't our fault we all went to the digital world," Tk quickly pointed out. "We were sucked in and couldn't get out until we'd already found the Digimental and Poromon."

"Yeah!" Kari agreed, folding her arms in defiance. "Also it's not like you can stop us from going! We have just as much responsibility to protect the digital world as you do."

Izzy held up his hands.

"I wasn't going to scold you for doing what you believed in, no matter how stupid I thought it was," he said, before thinking over what he just said. "I probably could have phrased that better… No matter, it's not that you went into the digital world that I'm angry about. It's that you didn't tell any of us you had planned on going."

He made sure to look both Tk and Kari in the eyes as he continued.

"How do you think your older brothers would feel if you two suddenly went missing and we couldn't find you?"

Kari looked down at her shoes, guilt seeping through and she clenched her hands into fists. Tai had always had a bit of an overprotective streak about her. She wasn't blind to it, he would have absolutely flipped if word got out she'd gone missing.

She took a subtle glance at Tk, who seemed to be going through similar thoughts. Matt had been downright hostile towards anything that could even conceivably put his brother in harm's way. From what the others had told her; that had been almost the only reason Matt had continued to fight against their enemies for as long as he had.

Neither of the two would approve of their little trip today.

"Now I know you two are competent enough to be comfortable in the digital world without us, even if Tai and Matt sometimes refuse to see it," Izzy admitted. "But I feel it would go a long way towards proving that you're able to handle such responsibility if you at least inform one of us before going."

"Hey! You can't stop us from fighting the Emperor," Davis stepped in. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you can tell us what to do! You're not any of our parents, it's not up to you what we're allowed to do!"

"Yes it is," said another voice from the door.

They all looked to see Iori standing in the doorway. He was glaring at Davis, who hadn't noticed the boy until now.

"Cody?" Yolei asked, staring at the boy in shock. "How long have you been standing there?"

"How long do you think?" he answered, folding his arms. "And it's Iori."

"Iori was the one who told be about the digital gate open on the computer," Izzy explained. "Although he didn't know what it was, or that it was his digivice that detected it opening."

"Wait, 'his digivice'?" Tk repeated.

"This is what you're talking about, I assume?" Iori held up his hand, showing everyone the new yellow digivice he had been holding.

The four stared blankly at the younger child for a few moments. Then a huge smile broke over Yolei's face.

"Yes!" she suddenly cheered, practically leaping into the air with Poromon clutching on tightly.

Everyone took a step back as she levelled a finger and jabbed it straight into Iori's chest, hard enough to make him wince.

"Admit it! I was right after all!" she demanded, looking as triumphant as a cat that had caught a delectable mouse. "These monsters do exist and you were wrong!"

Iori gaped for a moment, before quickly rebuking her.

"I only doubted what was, quite frankly, a rather unbelievable story. I never said there was no chance they weren't real!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure you did," Yolei continued snidely, barely even paying attention to him. "The point is I was right and you were wrong. Elementary my dear friend!"

Iori took some deep breaths to fight his growing frustration as the others watched on with some measure of amusement.

"Wow, is that what we must have looked like to the others?" Tk mused.

"He is very small," Kari agreed.

"So what's so special about this kid?" Davis wondered. "How come he gets a digivice?"

"Who knows?" Izzy spoke up, smiling at the two bickering children. "But deep down it must mean he embodies the right sort of qualities that are needed. I mean, we all did... eventually. Hmm, I wonder how many other Chosen there are now? Will there be another set of eight, or less or maybe even more? This could get quite complicated."

"Um... Izzy," Kari began, looking a little sheepish at interrupting his thinking. "Thanks for not getting angry with us."

"And not telling our brothers," Tk added.

"Yeah, you seem pretty cool for a nerd," Davis said cheerfully, giving the older boy a thumbs up.

"No problem, I think," Izzy said, fixing Davis with an annoyed glare. "But I also suppose that it's a good time to tell all of you that some of us older digidestined will be going to File Island this weekend and that you are all welcome to come along as well."

"That sounds awesome!" DemiVeemon cheered. "Will there be strong people to fight?"

"Only if we don't mind sparring," Patamon answered quickly. "Or BanchoLeomon isn't too busy."

"I wouldn't mind some time to get used to my FlyBeemon form," Poromon said. "Sparring with experienced opponents sounds delightful."

"Then count me and DemiVeemon in," Davis decided. "We'll show all you oldies how it's done."

"Jeez, I'm hardly old," Izzy muttered.

"Wait, I thought you were going to do it after school today?" Tk suddenly remembered. "Why did you change?"

"Well I contacted everyone and changed the time," Izzy said, smiling. "This way we won't get into trouble for skipping school like you guys."

A horrible sinking feeling crept through the four Chosen's hearts. Even Yolei broke off her argument as she suddenly remembered that they were in the middle of a school day.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Tk realised.

"Oh yeah," Izzy admitted.

* * *

It was quiet in Sora's room. The blinds were drawn up, allowing only delicate lines of golden light to illuminate the girl's face. Underneath her feet, the soft almost rhythmic sounds of customers entering and exiting her mother's flower shop, sounds that would normally lull her into a gentle sleep were acting like pins in her ears. Each slight voice was amplified for but a moment, just enough to keep her out of blissful unconscious, before fading softly away.

Like it had never been there at all.

Her breath hitched.

Her pulse quickened. She clutched at her chest in phantom pain for but a moment. Her heart subsided. The pain faded.

Sora focussed only on her breathing. In and out. In and out.

Her hand slowly clenched around the small metal necklace, one she always kept near her, no matter the occasion. Not all scars were physical she had learned. Some lay there beneath the skin, concealed so well that you forgot they were there. Until they began to _hurt._

She then began to think of other things. As she always did. To show the memories that she did not care for them. That she could ignore them for better ones was her only method of victory. For no matter how hard she fought, no matter what activity she put in front of herself, they always returned in the end. When she was alone.

They had helped her, even if they never realised. Their constant presence by her side was always welcome. But she never allowed them to see. She could never hurt them like that. She loved them all far too much to let them know of her fall.

The light in her chest began to glow.

Weak.

Weak, but still there.

Some days she thought that when that cold metal beam had run her through, it had taken something away from her. Something she could never get back. It was silly. Ridiculous.

That hole had been healed the very same day she had got it.

And yet...

There was one other device that she had. Another she never let stray far from her side. Over her life she had lost many things, but this and her Crest she could never lose. There was a secret about this device, one only she had been unfortunate enough to discover. The others couldn't keep secrets from her, not even Tai. At least not for long.

With eyes as blank as her mind she looked at the screen; a static screen that hadn't changed in months.

That this tiny, insignificant thing could hold such power over her was incredible.

Incredible and sad.

There was a light that lurked in the hole in her chest.

And it was fading.

* * *

Yolei had refused to stop gloating over how she had been right and he had been wrong. Even during the long walk home after school she refused to shut up about it.

Iori refused to let himself care about this.

His Grandpa had warned him that it was important to be graceful in victory, lest you foster resentment from those in defeat. It made sense to him, yet Yolei seemed utterly unable to grasp such a simple concept. He knew the girl was intelligent, just not used to interacting often with people outside her own family.

Iori had met Yolei's family once.

He did not desire to repeat the experience.

Fortunately for him, it turned out Tk also lived in the same apartment building as them. Now he could finally talk to someone slightly more normal for a change. Whilst Yolei was chatting away with her new digimon partner.

"He's like this massive genius you see on TV all the time," she gushed about something or other. "Some asshole tried to mug him not long ago and gave him this massive bruise, it honestly looks really cool-."

Which was about all Iori could stand before engaging Tk in conversation.

"So you moved here a year ago?" Tk clarified, walking next to Iori. "I guess you must have missed all the digimon then."

"I did," Iori confirmed, looking absentmindedly at the digivice in his hand.

His digivice apparently. He still wasn't too sure about that, but couldn't really think about why they would lie to him. His Grandfather always told him to try and see things from other people's perspective and there was no reason he could think of for this kind of deception. Not to mention how they could lie to him considering he was even now with real, living and breathing digimon.

Patamon was resting on Tk's head, yawning and letting his bright blue eyes droop. Yolei was in a deep discussion with Poromon, who had nestled himself in her arms and was smiling up at her like he had never met anyone as interesting before.

"Tk, what's it like to have a partner?" Iori asked.

"What's it like?" Tk repeated, before looking up at the sky and thinking. "That's an odd question."

"If you really think I'm one of you then I'm likely to get a partner as well," Iori said softly. "As well as one of those Digimental things. I-I want to know what it's like."

"Why don't you ask Yolei?" Tk wondered. "You've known her longer."

"I want to ask you," Iori said. "You've had a digimon partner for years."

"Alright. Well Patamon's like my best friend," Tk began.

"Damn straight," Patamon murmured sleepily causing Tk to chuckle.

"He's my best friend, but he's also more than that," he continued, thinking back. "He was always by my side and willing to protect me, no matter what mistakes I made. As we continued our journey I couldn't imagine life without him. We laughed together, cried together and fought together. It was like he completed a part of my soul, a part I didn't realise was even missing until I met him. I can't really put it better than that."

"That's deep," Iori recognised, from a complete lack of anything else to say. "I can't even imagine what that must feel like."

"It takes time to build a powerful bond with your partner," Tk noted, blushing a little. "If anything mine and Patamon's probably isn't as strong as the others' yet. They've all reached the mega level apart from me and Kari, and Tai has reached even further before."

"Who's Tai?"

"He's our leader," Tk answered. "Or at least the closest thing we have to one anyway. Don't worry you'll meet everyone eventually and you'll fit in perfectly."

Iori doubted it. He'd heard that claim before. There was little chance he'd ever be a part of their group. Koushiro had described the traits on the Crests and Iori doubted he had an overabundance of any of them. He wasn't going to naively believe he was particularly brave or good at making friends. Not when he knew himself well enough to know it wasn't true.

"Thank you for saying that," he said out loud. "But I don't really see how. I lack the specific virtues you described on the Digimentals."

'That should settle the matter,' Iori thought.

Then Tk just laughed. It wasn't unkind, just a simple laugh and it made Iori stare.

"Well this might be hard for you to believe but isn't really clear who gets what crest," Tk answered, a smile lighting up his handsome face. "I mean I never thought someone like Mimi would get Sincerity, but then I learnt more about her and well... I guess she learnt more about herself as well. What I'm trying to say is you might surprise yourself."

"Hey, I thought guys weren't supposed to talk about their feelings!" Yolei suddenly interjected, startling the two. "Anyway we're here!"

Immediately Tk blushed dark red and quickly mumbled an apology.

"Goodnight Yolei, Iori," he said quickly, before opening his front door and shutting it much harder than needed.

There was a shout from inside and a startled yelp as he was scolded by his mother and Yolei couldn't help but giggle.

"Wow, he's pretty much impossible to hate, am I right?" she asked Iori, as the two walked further along the line of apartments. "He's such a dork, but in a cute way."

Iori closed his eyes. Hopefully Yolei wouldn't develop a crush. He really didn't want to get involved in any drama.

"I guess," he replied dispassionately, before turning towards his door. "Goodnight Yolei."

"Hey don't worry, Cody," Yolei said happily, giving him a cheerful thumbs up with her unoccupied arm. "Tomorrow we'll go to the digital world and beat that Emperor black and blue, and find you a partner! That's a promise!"

"Goodnight, Yolei," he repeated more forcefully, before quickly shutting the door.

He retreated to his room, never seeing Yolei's arm drop sadly to her side outside his front door. She trudged back slowly towards her own apartment, holding a sleeping Poromon tightly with both arms.

As Iori lay in bed that night, his thoughts were plagued with images of digimon. Reports of what Koushiro had told him, what Tk had claimed and finally what this 'Emperor' had been doing to the digital world. He looked at the yellow digivice in his hand, its screen glowing softly.

If he actually was a Chosen, then it meant he could make a difference. Stop a war, depose a ruthless tyrant. The kind of thing people went down in history for centuries for doing. Not that it was glory he sought, but he didn't fully understand why such a dangerous and important task would be given to him of all people.

So what would you do? The voice of his Grandfather seemed to say to him. Would you let others suffer needlessly just because you are afraid of glory?

It wasn't glory he was afraid of, was it? He shouldn't go seeking fame, which was another thing he had been taught. Always be humble and never arrogant. Arrogance always came before a fall. Pride was the one sin that could never be truly conquered, not by anyone.

But he should still help. His Grandfather would always compel him to be just, to help fight against evil and the Emperor was nothing if not evil.

But why was he so weary of helping?

 _"Follow your heart Cody..."_

Iori shoved his head under his pillow, trying fruitlessly to force his father's words from his mind. He refused to remember that day, shoving it into the very deepest recesses of his mind. Iori slowly took upon the meditative exercise his Grandfather had taught him, trying to clear his mind.

After a good half hour, Iori slowly settled down into an uneasy sleep, his thoughts running around in his head like an ouroborous. Slowly consuming themselves into oblivion.

* * *

It was after school the next day that Tai took the subway, Koromon settled in his arms, heading for a familiar destination.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it Tai?" Koromon prompted, grinning up at his partner as he sat in his lap. "Us two taking a train to Shinjuku? At least this time there's no Myotismon lurking about."

"Yeah," Tai whispered back. "But this time the train is a little more packed, so keep your voice down. There's a woman over there looking at me funny."

"Hey, it's not like she'll call the police or anything," Koromon pointed out. "Just think you're crazy."

"Wonderful."

The two sat for a few minutes in a comfortable silence. Tai leant back against the headboard of his seat, inwardly thanking Gatomon for at least speeding up the healing process in his arm last night. The little digimon had been exhausted and had nearly clawed his eyes out when he asked her about healing him.

It wasn't the quick fix he had been hoping for, but at least he would only be out for a week or so, rather than the initial couple of months. It might draw a bit of suspicion, but Tai would probably go mad if he didn't get a part of the action somehow. Especially if he never got to pay that Emperor asshole back for his injury.

He was just a bona fide fountain of bad luck recently. Was it his imagination or was it getting colder?

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Huh?" Tai noted, his digivice suddenly going crazy and causing a couple of heads to turn. "What's up with this thing? You feeling alright, Koromon?"

"I feel fine, Tai, but is there normally fog underground?"

"What?!"

Tai stood up and turned to look out the underground window. Pushing his face towards the glass he could just about see what looked like a thick fog enveloping the train. It was too dark to see more than the outline of thick streams of fog curing around the train. Murmuring could then be heard as the other passengers took notice, peering out the windows to look at the strange thick fog.

There was a sharp jolt and the train began to slow down. It wasn't a sudden, controlled stop. The train just seemed to roll across the track. Slower and slower until it slowly came to a halt right in the middle of the fog field. A sense of dread crept up Tai's spine as the lights began to flicker slowly, before failing completely and plunging the entire train into darkness. There were a few startled shrieks. The kind from the sort of people who didn't really think they were in any danger and were more excited than scared.

Tai wasn't such a person. Wide-eyed, every sense he had going haywire, he gripped his digivice tightly and looked through the window. It was hopeless, everything was too dark. It was impossible to make out anything real from the shapes his imagination would give random wisps of fog.

Annoyed and panicked, he closed his eyes and _willed._ When he opened them again he could see the entire carriage as clear as day. Filled with people looking either nervous or downright angry at the delay. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

Tai then turned around and paused. Behind the glass was a huge sheet of what looked like horrible red flesh. A small black line stood proudly in the middle. A line that seemed to widen as Tai stared deeper into it.

The eye blinked.

Tai shrieked, jumping backwards like it had tried to bite him and nearly toppling over the person standing behind him. His hand was halfway to his digivice and he had nearly digivolved Koromon straight to Greymon before a large hand grabbed his shoulder roughly.

"Hey kid, relax," a nearby businessman said, clearly annoyed. "The dark isn't going to kill you."

There was another myriad of giggling from a bunch of girls further down the train, but Tai didn't care.

His eyes were fixed to the window.

The massive eye had vanished completely, only leaving thick fog swirling behind the glass. Logic reasserted itself inside Tai's mind. It couldn't have just vanished! Hell, something that big shouldn't even fit in the tunnel! Anything whose eye could take up the whole train window would be far too massive to fit in here.

Koromon growled, a low unsettling noise that Tai didn't think the little digimon was capable of.

"Something's coming," Koromon mentioned, paranoid eyes darting around quickly.

"A digimon?"

"No..."

There was a rumble and the train shook for a moment. Everyone was silent as the ghost of a strange noise could be heard throughout the carriage. Only Tai and Koromon realised what it was. The sound of something being deleted.

The fog slowly cleared and almost immediately the lights flickered back on. The train suddenly roared back to life and began to move forwards again. The people inside cheered, chattering excitedly to one another as life slowly returned back to normal. The driver issued an apology over the intercom and everyone was alive and well.

Tai sat down bonelessly in his seat.

"Did you see that, Koromon?" Tai hissed, his heart still pounding so loud he was sure the whole carriage could hear.

"I didn't see anything, Tai," Koromon whispered back, feeling his partner's fear through their bond. "You just shrieked, but I definitely felt something afterwards."

"It was a massive eye, right there!"

"A digimon just got destroyed, I can feel it!"

The two looked at one another.

"What the hell is going on?"

* * *

Dealing with these younger Chosen was probably going to drive him insane, Izzy privately decided.

Davis, who dressed like Tai complete with discount goggles, but seemed to possess none of his tact (and wasn't that a worrying thought), didn't seem to think highly of him at all. There wasn't much information to go on but he privately theorised it was because he was Head of the Computer Club. That was something which didn't garner much respect from a disturbing number of individuals at school.

DemiVeemon seemed to be picking up slightly on that hostility, as it was unlikely to be something the digimon was purposefully thinking badly about him and just wanted to emulate his boisterous partner.

Miyako, on the other hand, seemed to detest talking to him completely. Although not quite as borderline hostile as Davis, in fact she seemed angry at the boy whenever he talked down to him, she was still rather rude and confrontational whether or not she realised it. The fact that she and Davis seemed at each other's throats half the time might have had something to do with it.

Poromon, on the other hand, was nothing but polite and cordial to everyone. Even though that behaviour did seem to slip when something unexpected happened.

Then there was Iori, the only one so far without a partner. He was small and quiet, so much so that you could easily forget he was there. Izzy tried not to, knowing what it was like to be small and unheard by much larger people, but the boy didn't seem to mind at all. Almost eerily polite he would rarely speak unless first spoken to; not exactly typical nine year old behaviour.

'But then again, how much of our behaviour is typical?' Izzy wondered to himself as he continued to explain what he had so far figured out.

"So from what you tell me, it's quite likely that these new digivices can open as well as close the Gate to the digital world," Izzy deducted, leaning back in his chair to stare at the closed gate on the computer. "Unless you just think it was a coincidence Yolei's digivice opened the gate for you, twice? Or that it closed right after Iori found the computer?"

"That's so unfair," Kari said. "These new digivices can do so much that ours can't."

"Maybe we can get an upgrade?" Tk suggested. "Gennai could probably do it."

"Ha! I knew you were jealous of me, Td," Davis spoke up, folding his arms proudly.

"Nice one, Davis!" DemiVeemon cheered, throwing his tiny arms into the air.

"Yeah, well I'd rather not risk it," Gatomon spoke up, ignoring the two. "I don't want to lose the ability to become Angewomon."

"And I still want to become MagnAngemon," Patamon added, glaring at Davis and his partner.

"That comes from the Crests, not the digivice," Izzy pointed out, typing on the computer. "Which reminds me: Iori, can I borrow your digivice for a moment?"

The younger boy handed it to him and Izzy poured over it, furiously flicking through screens on the school computer.

"You see, your advanced digivices seem to have some sort of ability to detect what it is that you need," Izzy explained. "A possible explanation for this is that they are linked both to you and the Digimentals that you're seeking."

"So we were meant to pick up the Digimentals?" Davis asked, scratching his head.

"Quite likely. Although the question we should be asking is, who set this all up? We know why, or at least we think we do, to stop the Emperor. Now who wants to stop the Emperor? Well, the only group I know of with the previous ability to accomplish something such as this isn't responding to me."

"Wait, you mean Gennai, right?" Tk said. "You mean he hasn't responded yet?"

Izzy shook his head sadly.

"There's no time dilation between our worlds now. If something was urgent he should have responded already. So I theorise he may have been ki- incapacitated," he said quickly, giving the three younger children a quick glance.

 _Beep! Beep!_

"Aha!" Izzy cried out triumphantly and handing the device back to Iori. "It looks like your Digimental, or at least the one connected to this device, is located in this region of the digital world."

They all peered forwards at the screen.

"Mountains?" Kari questioned. "It's in the middle of a mountain range?"

Izzy nodded.

"If I'm correct, then yes. We can't yet tell whether or not you're near the Emperor's territory, so be careful and find Iori's partner as quickly as you can."

"Hey, why aren't you coming with us?" Yolei demanded. "I thought you were supposed to be some big, hotshot digidestined!?"

"Thank you for the lovely description," Izzy replied calmly. "But without Tentomon, I'll only get in the way. Quite frankly I don't want you five to be burdened with protecting me as well."

"Yeah right," Davis muttered. "You're probably just too scared to go."

"Davis!" Kari scolded, before looking back at the older boy. "Don't worry, Izzy. We understand."

"Good, my advice is to stick together in unknown territory," the older boy said, moving away from the computer. "And don't trust the locals. You got lucky last time, but they might just attack you all at once anyway. Be discreet."

"Gotcha!" Kari said, giving Izzy a smile and a thumbs up.

"Thanks for the advice, Izzy," Tk agreed.

"We'll be fine," Davis insisted. "Flamedramon will deal with anything that comes our way."

"Ha, as if," Yolei said. "More like run away while FlyBeemon deals with the real toughies!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

Iori sighed at their behaviour and bowed to the older boy.

"I'm grateful for your words of wisdom," he spoke solemnly.

Izzy was rather taken aback by this and hesitantly bowed back.

"Um, you're welcome?"

"We should get moving," Tk said loudly, gaining everyone's attention. "We do want to be back before it gets dark."

"Alright then, let's go!" Davis yelled, ignoring Yolei's rebuttal and pointing his digivice towards the screen. "Portal open!"

The screen turned green for a brief instant and a powerful light sucked the five of them and their digimon into the screen. Their forms grew smaller and smaller until Izzy was the only one left in the room.

Suddenly his head darted towards the doorway. A shadow raced past his line of vision. Had someone been standing there a second ago? He hadn't left the door open! He quickly rushed forwards and peered out into the hallway. It was completely devoid of people in both directions.

His rational mind slowly took over. It must have been his imagination. The corridor was incredibly long, no one could have possibly seen anything and been able to get out of sight without him hearing or seeing anything.

"I've been skipping out on too much sleep," he muttered to himself. "Maybe Mimi was right, I've got to learn to relax."

* * *

"Well that's worrying," Hideto finally said after Tai had finished talking about his weird journey. "You sure you're ok?"

Neo, Mari, Hideto, Wizardmon and Sigma all sat around Tai, listening to his story intently. On the other side of the room, Rei was playing with Koromon, who laughed and giggled as she threw him into the air.

"Things just keep happening to you, don't they Taichi?" Mari sighed, patting the younger boy on the head.

"I'm not five, I can handle it" Tai muttered, batting her hand away lightly and thanking his good judgement that he left out his shriek. "Koromon said it wasn't a digimon. He thought it was something else."

"You mean something else that has an eye large enough to take up a whole train window?" Sigma asked, tilting his head mockingly. "Please, I'm all ears to what it could be other than a digimon."

Everyone turned to Neo as he sat back in his chair and locked his fingers together, deep in thought. When it became clear he wasn't going to speak Mari decided to answer.

"It's hardly that unlikely that it could be something we haven't encountered yet," she spoke. "I mean if the digital world exists, why not another?"

"Koromon said it wasn't a digimon, but he wasn't talking about the eye," Hideto clarified. "He said that something that wasn't a digimon destroyed the fog. Koromon admitted he didn't see an eye."

"What do you think, Wizardmon?" Sigma questioned. "You've lived in the digital world for a while. Ever heard of anything like this?"

The champion thought for a moment.

"It reminds me of the fog that Myotismon used to cover his invasion of Odaiba," Wizardmon admitted. "That had a similar effect on electronics that were too close to the fog. I don't know about an eye though. His fog never caused that before."

"It isn't Myotismon!" Tai almost shouted. "He's gone! And what point would there be in making it foggy in a subway for five minutes?"

"I wasn't saying it was Myotismon," Wizardmon said, holding up his hands to placate the boy. "I believe you when you said he was gone, Tai. There is no doubt. No one could return from what you did to him."

"Don't tempt fate, Wizardmon," Sigma playfully scolded. "Bet you he is back now."

"What? The moment he said it?!" Mari grinned. "I'd take that bet."

"Tai," Hideto warned, putting a stern hand on the fuming boy's shoulder. "Something else is bothering you. What is it?"

"Please tell us, Taichi," a warm voice implored.

Tai suddenly looked up and into Rei's sad eyes. After four years she had changed quite a bit. She wore her red hair at shoulder length now and it complemented her more mature face perfectly. Rei was still confined to a wheelchair, but even after so many years she still refused to let it get her down. A casual observer would call her a weak little girl, but only those present knew of the indomitable will that she carried.

If there was anyone in the world he could never lie to it would be his little sister followed shortly by Rei.

"Is it your arm?" she asked sweetly, taking a soft but firm hold of his arm.

Tai froze like a small animal caught in headlights as she ran her fingers along his arm, then pressed down slightly at the shoulder. He winced at the sudden surge of pain that crept down his arm, but it was less than it had been.

"How did you get this?" she asked, before her eyes narrowed and her voice hardened. "Was it in a fight?"

His eyes darted around, trying to avoid her accusing gaze.

"Not exactly..." he murmured, which was the wrong thing to say apparently.

"Tai!"

"It was the Digimon Emperor," Hideto finally said, taking pity on the poor boy.

"The what?" Mari asked deadpan.

"The Digimon Emperor," Tai repeated dejectedly, realising there was no way to avoid this. "A megalomaniac trying to take over the digital world. He did this to my arm."

"What level is he?" Wizardmon asked, his voice tinged with steel. "Sigma and I wouldn't mind paying him a visit. We haven't just been hanging out for the last four years you know."

"He hasn't got a level," Tai said, taking a deep breath. "He's a human."

Eyes widened at that as the others all looked at each other, then finally one person in particular.

Had he been standing, Tai would have stepped back at the sudden intense look in Neo's eyes. Obviously interested he unlocked his fingers and sat up straighter in his chair. The boy leaned forwards with the hint of a grin clearly visible on his face.

"Taichi," he spoke softly. "Tell me everything you know."

* * *

 **A/N: So strange happenings are occuring in the human world. People are acting odd and seeing things, or are they now seeing what's actually there?  
**

 **Either way, it's becoming clear that the Emperor isn't going to be the only opponent the Chosen will be facing this time.**

 **Questions:**

 **Seithr-Kairy:** In canon, the crests seemed to be chosen either for those who had an abundance of one particular trait, whether they knew it or not, or who particularly lacked it in some ways. Sora being hesitant to love, Matt being a loner with no friends... etc. I think there are many ways to interpret why certain people get certain crests. They all show courage throughout the show, yet Tai is the only one who has the Crest of Courage.

Iori is a bit different to his canon self, but then they all are, and he will discover his crest next chapter. I think it fits him rather well, considering how he acts and thinks, even if he hasn't fully realised it yet. Knowledge didn't fit him at all well in canon, since he never really shows much actual knowledge or even a hunger for knowledge. I might be remembering him wrong, but it didn't really fit the way I saw his character.

Yolei, on the other hand, I gave Knowledge because it really does fit her both here and in canon. She demonstrates quite a bit of knowledge and curiousity in the show from I can remember, but they instead gave her love because... well Halsemon looks cool? Maybe you can think of a better reason, but I can't.

Anyway, the reasons they each get different digimentals will be due to how their characters develop throughout the story. I've hinted that they're already different to their canon counterparts, but just how much remains to be seen.

I've rambled on enough here. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's always a pleasure to read your comments!

 **6SkullAngel:** Yep, the eggs will be divided quite differently as you may have guessed. I won't say how though!

 **windwarrior234:** In order to develop their characters to a greater extent than I feel they did in canon, mostly. Also Flybeemon looks pretty cool, I thought. But you're right it is for the plot in a couple of other ways as well. I don't want to spoil how though.

I'm glad you think Yolei is adorkable! I was trying to write her that way half the time and the other half her being far more rude. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I love reading you thoughts on it.

 **SnakeGear:** I have considered all three of those options at some point. I'm leaning away from separate crests as it's just more stuff to remember, plus they've already demonstrated certain characteristics similar to the original crests so there isn't a need to give them new ones.

 **attonranden:** Not telling! Maybe though ;)

 **CourageFlames:** At some point they will be becoming a part of the action, no doubt about it!

 **Captain Nice Hardrive:** Yeah I borrowed a few elements from the D-arcs and put them in the D3s. The reasons why I've hinted at and will become clear in time. You're super sharp so you'll probably figure it out. Right now the new group is still trying to find a dynamic, something I've tried to get across. No one has really stepped forth as a clear leader and they'll all try at some point for their own reasons until they find a dynamic that works for them.

Learning they can use each others Digimentals will come about later and will serve another purpose.

Thank you for posting such long and insightful reviews!

 **I also have an announcement to make. As my shift at work has changed it's going to take me longer to write out the chapters at my usual speed. So the next chapter will be released no later than two weeks from now, on the 27th of July.**

 **This is so that I can continue to write long chapters without the quality (what little there is) suffering too much.**

 **Thank you all for understanding.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the story! Next update on Monday 27th July!**

 **Edited for Grammar on 03/08/15: Thanks to Captain Nice Hardrive**


	6. Chapter 5: The Cruellest Thing

**A/N: Sorry it's a bit late in updating this. I'm on holiday in another country at the moment and my internet connection is tennuous at best.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.**

* * *

 **The Cruellest Thing  
**

Iori had never really been outside of Japan before today. In fact, he had never been outside of Tokyo barring the occasional school trip. As a consequence his relationship with nature had never been complicated. He accepted that it was there, somewhere beyond the grey buildings of the city, doing its usual thing. Every now and then he would see the intermittent postcard or news report with Mount Fuji or Kita being featured, but it had never really made him think about it.

But now here he was.

Standing in the middle of a vast range of mountains, huge colossi of rock and trees and snow, that pierced the sky with a vigour the city could only dream of matching. Below, thick white clouds hung in the air almost lazily. They slid around the mountainsides like a series of rivers flowing down a hill. The incredible breeze badgered them onwards through the channels in-between the mountains and towards their final destination

The very edge of the rock platform they all stood on was not too far in front of them. Looking even further down, Iori could make out a sea of different shades of green covering the lower parts of the mountains like fur. If he squinted, he could see small brightly coloured shapes, undoubtedly large digimon, stomping through the woods and utterly unaware of him looking down at them from above.

He breathed in the fresh, humid air like it was his last breath. The sense of being so high up was invigorating, liberating even. Like he was king of all he surveyed just by making it up here.

Even the others seemed momentarily struck dumb by the view. Yolei had her mouth agape and eyes wide; as if trying to commit as much of the scene to memory as possible. Davis was similarly stunned, leaning forwards to look down at the sheer drop only a few feet in front of them. Kari and Tk were the most odd. They both had small smiles on their faces and weren't even looking at the view at all, rather at them.

Then Davis opened his mouth and hollered.

"WOOOO!" he cheered, his voice racing downwards into the dark forests far below them.

It bounced off the mountains all around them, returning again and again from several directions. An expression of utter glee was stuck on the boy's face as he began shouting other stuff, which the mountains then repeated back.

"ECHO! ECHO! Ha-ha! DAVIS RULES! TS DRUELS!"

"Thanks Davis," Tk said sardonically. "I really appreciate you telling the digital world."

"Hey, the digital world deserves to hear the truth," Davis said with a cheeky grin. "And the truth is your terrible smell."

"I don't know, Davis," Veemon said, putting a claw to his chin in thought. "I mean you smell pretty bad too sometimes; especially after soccer practice."

"Gee, thanks for being on my side, Veemon."

"Anytime!" the rookie cheered, giving his partner a thumbs-up.

"Wow, there are some really clear echoes here," Yolei noted, looking around at the mountains. "They must be very smooth; well for mountains anyway."

"That or it's just the digital world," Kari added, keeping the sun out of her eyes as she tried to look around. "Things have always been a little strange here."

"Strange how?" Yolei asked, eyes lighting up with interest. "Like other abnormal physical phenomenon? I mean not that echoes are particularly abnormal, but ones that clear seems like stuff in movies. Then again I haven't really been in many mountain ranges before, that might be perfectly normal. Maybe there are slightly different physical laws in the digital world, I mean it is another dimension... at least I think so. What do you think, Kari?"

Kari blinked, a little taken aback.

"Umm..."

"I don't mean to interrupt you ladies," Hawkmon began, standing on a rock nearby with his eyes glued to the sky. "But we should probably begin our little amble down the mountainside as soon as possible."

From her place at the cliff-edge, Gatomon nodded.

"Plenty of digimon would have heard that," she said, eyeing the small moving shapes far below them with a critical eye. "And I don't want to be out in the open when they arrive."

Cody sighed. Of course the magnificent view would be ruined by someone doing something stupid. At least it hadn't been Yolei who had done it.

"Hey, there's no need to hurry," Davis stated, hands behind his head. "They're all the way down there and we're way up here."

"All the better to get a head start on them, I say," Tk said. "I don't want to get surrounded again."

"We've seen fights on mountainsides before," Patamon explained, hovering next to his partner. "They can get really dangerous, really quickly."

"But I want to look at the view," Davis protested. "We can take any digimon that come after us, right?"

"Davis, we're here to find Cody's DigiMental," Yolei reminded him. "Not just to fight."

Davis looked around at Iori with surprise. He looked as if he'd completely forgotten the boy was even there.

"Oh, you're right, err... sorry," Davis apologised meekly.

Iori wasn't sure exactly who Davis was apologising to, him or Yolei, but was willing to let being forgotten slide. After all, he had been pretty engrossed in the view as well until the others had started talking. His Grandfather had always told him to forgive; for that is a characteristic of the strong, only the weak cannot forgive.

Again, Kari took charge of the group, having Gatomon scout out ahead through some bushes and nearby trees. Unlike the forest where large trees were all that could be seen, as if they were deliberately clambering for attention, here there were only small isolated pockets of green going down the mountain. One of which they happened to be nearby.

"Let's go then," Kari decided, a little impatiently. "Gatomon, is there a safe path that goes down?"

"This one looks pretty stable," the champion replied, tapping her foot. "Big enough for all of us too. We should be able to see any digimon approaching from below easily."

"Alright then, come on everyone," Kari said. "Lets go find Cody's Digimental!"

"It's Iori," Iori repeated quietly, clenching his hands tightly behind his back.

But that far from the rest of the group no one else heard him. Breathing in and out slowly, Iori quickly followed after everyone else as they began to go down the mountain. He slowly saddled next to Davis, who was looking on ahead, face full of determination. Before Iori could say anything he then quickly ran ahead towards Kari, who was at the front of the group.

"Davis has been acting pretty weird lately."

Iori jumped, swivelling to his left to see Tk smiling at him.

"Oh, err... I wouldn't really know," Iori admitted. "I only met him yesterday."

"Well I only met him the day before that," Tk chuckled. "So maybe I'm just projecting."

"Projecting?"

"Well, Davis dresses a lot like someone else we know," he explained. "I know it's silly, but I keep expecting him to act differently to how he does. Maybe it's just the goggles, or maybe I'm going crazy."

"Crazy definitely," Patamon announced proudly from atop his partner's head. "Davis isn't like Tai; he hasn't got any problems for one thing."

"Patamon!" Tk admonished lightly.

"Who's Tai?" Iori asked, curious.

"He's Kari's brother and the first one of us to go to the digital world. You might have seen him about school. He wears goggles just like Davis; well I should say Davis wears goggles just like him."

Iori looked on ahead, eyeing the goggles that Davis kept wrapped around his head. It was quite frankly an absurd fashion statement, and not one he could recall seeing before.

"Oh, I see," Iori said, slowly losing interest. "May I ask you a question, Tk?"

"Shoot."

"What is it exactly that a Digidestined is supposed to do?"

Tk looked surprised at the question, before putting his hand to his chin in thought.

"We defend the digital world from evil," he said after a while. "Of course that also involves protecting our world as well."

"But why us? Why children?" Iori questioned. "Why not get the adults to help?"

"I'm not sure. It does seem strange, but I'm pretty certain Gennai knows what he's doing."

"Gennai?"

Tk laughed, nearly flinging Patamon off of his head.

"Oh wow, I really do have quite a bit of explaining to do."

"Tell me as well!" Yolei said from in front of them, swivelling around as if on rails. "I want to know!"

"Yolei. Don't. Do that," Iori ground out,

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I was just so interested," Yolei answered honestly, eyes lit up as she stared at Tk. "Hawkmon doesn't know anything beyond 'oh I just knew I had to wait for you.'"

"Miss Yolei, I must protest," Hawkmon protested, looking flustered. "I am quite well-versed in many areas of digital history, but I am unclear as to exactly what role it is you humans play. Not to mention this Gennai character, whom I have never heard of. Also, Miss Yolei, I must insist you turn around and face the direction in which you are walking."

"Oh don't be such a baby!"

"You're going to trip."

"Am not!"

'Idiot,' Iori thought.

Further up the group, Davis was talking to Kari excitedly.

"So what do you think we'll be fighting this time, Kari?" he asked eagerly. "I bet this time it will be a whole tribe of zombie digimon, and we'll have to fight our way in, grab the digimental and fight our way out again! Or maybe they'll be a zombie dinosaur digimon, no a dragon! Then Flamedramon could kick his ass!"

"I don't know what a 'zombie' is, but I'd love to light it on fire!" Veemon agreed, pounding his fist.

"I'd prefer it if we didn't have to fight at all," Kari said firmly. "Last time you nearly got us all into deep trouble, Davis."

"Yeah, but it turned out alright in the end. Plus I figured out how to digivolve Veemon! So it was a win-win, right?"

"I guess when you put it that way," Kari admitted, realising he had a point. "But still we need to be more careful in the future."

"Scared, Kari?" Davis teased. "Don't worry, Veemon and me will protect you."

Kari huffed, folding her arms in mock anger.

"Yeah sure you'll protect me," she said shrewdly. "This'll be just like when you fouled that captain during last year's soccer. Then you hid behind me and I had to yell at him for you."

Davis blushed, looking around quickly to check none of the others had heard.

"Hey, that was one time!" he protested quietly, upon realising that event was still unknown to the others. "Plus he was like way older than me! He must have been held back like three times at least. I'm surprised he could even speak!"

"He did look a bit like a caveman didn't he?" Kari snorted, remembering the incident. "His face when my brother showed up!"

"I swear he wet himself," Davis chortled. "I bet he-"

 _Boom!_

The ground shook violently and Davis nearly lost his balance.

"What the hell was that?!" he yelled.

"Look!" Gatomon cried out, pointing over into the distance. "It came from over there!"

A column of smoke was rising from a point obscured by a large hill. There was a crackle of electricity and another explosion was heard. The ground shook again and Tk was forced to grab Iori to stop him from falling over the edge.

"Thanks Tk," Iori said shakily, as he slowly regained his balance. "So is that something you Digidestined deal with often?"

"Yeah," the older boy responded, steeling himself for a fight. "There could be innocents in trouble over there. Let's go, Patamon!"

The older boy then sprinted off without a second thought, leaving Iori staring at his back in shock.

 _'_ Isn't he scared at all?' the younger boy wondered as Tk ran ahead of the group.

"Come on, Hawkmon!" Yolei ordered, not willing to be left behind. "Let's help him!"

She then ran after Tk as her digimon took flight beside her, cautioning her to slow down.

"I won't let Tz have all the fun!" Davis declared, running after the blonde with Veemon on his heels. "Veemon, you're up!"

"Wait for me, Davis! My legs are shorter than yours!" the blue rookie screeched, trying to keep up with his soccer-star of a partner.

"Let's back them up, Gatomon," Kari said, quickly running on after them.

"Knowing them they'll need it," the champion snarked, easily keeping pace with Kari.

Iori stared as the group all ran on, leaving him behind. He could still feel the tremors through his body. He glanced over towards the edge of the pathway, towards the ground far far below him. He had almost died just then. If Tk hadn't grabbed him he would have.

Now they were all running towards the cause of the explosion. Was it a Chosen thing? Were they all that reckless?

'How can they all just not care?' he wondered to himself. 'What motivates them to just go on without thinking?'

There was another shock as electricity crackled through the air. Iori barced himself as the tremors ran through the mountain, sending small rocks from the pathway tumbling down into the forest below. He stayed there, rooted to the ground and unable to move.

'What could I even do?' he told himself. 'I'll just wait for them to come back, which would be the smart thing to do. No, even smarter would be to get as far away as possible.'

His decision made, he turned around and began to walk back up the mountain. He would just wait by the abandoned monitor where they had come in, that would be the best option.

Another tremor and Iori winced. This time there was a noise like thunder and then, a pained scream cut through the air like a heated razor. He swivelled, dark thoughts running through his mind. Yolei, Kari, Davis and Tk had all just left his sight and left him all alone.

 _The back of a much larger man walking away..._

Without another thought, Cody ran towards the smoke.

* * *

"HAHAHAHA!" Mari roared with laughter, before falling backwards onto Neo's bed clutching her stomach.

"It's not funny," Tai protested weakly, his face as red as a setting sun. "Right guys?"

He didn't get much support. Hideto had turned away, his shoulders shaking wildly and Sigma was openly cackling as he repeatedly hit the chair he was sitting on with his fist. Rei wasn't faring much better. She was biting her bottom lip hard and her cheeks were puffed outwards like two small tomatoes as she avoided eye contact. Even Wizardmon's eyes glinted with some amusement as he gave Tai a look mostly hidden by his large coat.

Only Neo portrayed no signs of amusement. He was too busy thinking about everything he had just been told, sitting back in his chair with his eyes closed in thought.

"S-sorry Tai," Mari finally managed to choke out, putting an arm around him. "It's just that, haha, you got your ass kicked by a twelve year old! The great Victory Tamer!"

"If only Daemon had thought of it!" Sigma sniggered.

This set Mari off again, and she let go of Tai just to fall back onto the bed. Tai slowly ground his teeth together. At least they were getting it out of their systems. Once his supposed seniors had all finished laughing at him, then maybe they could get down to talking about important business.

"I think you're right," Neo said suddenly, opening his eyes.

"That Daemon should have attacked Taichi with a twelve year old?" Mari asked, still giggling.

"No, that this Emperor character is being manipulated by someone else. Although to what end I can only guess."

"Seems like the usual stuff to me," Hideto said, having regained enough composure to at least turn back around. "Total conquest of the digital world at least. Maybe even attempt what Daemon did and try to conquer our world as well."

"Open up his own martial arts dojo," Mari joked, before laughing as Tai visibly twitched. "I'm just messing with ya!"

"It's very curious that only this 'armour' digivolving is immune to the Control Spires," Sigma noted. "I've never heard of it before."

Neo's eyes widened and he stood up.

"And that is why the Spires can't block it!" he realised.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked.

"Armour digivolving was a concept that never made it into the franchise," Neo explained carefully. "It was planned that with certain promotional items you could unlock rare digivolutions for specific digimon. They were thinking of introducing it into the next generation of V-pets, but due to declining popularity it never got introduced and the project was scrapped."

"Wait, if it was scrapped then how could it have happened in the digital world?" Rei asked, looking between Tai and her big brother curiously.

"Well, Zeromaru technically was never programmed into the game, yet he existed in the digital world," Mari pointed out.

"Zeromaru was a glitch, don't protest Tai it's a simple fact," Neo added quickly before Tai could explode. "He was not programmed into the V-Pet and for whatever reason his data changed and he became a whole new digimon. That's most likely how new digimon appear and they either digivolve into digimon that already exist or make their own digivolution. Had the glitch not happened, Zeromaru would most likely have been a Veemon or an Agumon. But even so he actually existed in the V-Pet, we know this. Armour digivolving hadn't even been programmed into the game at the time, so it's a completely different puzzle altogether."

"Perhaps we should focus on the problem as it is?" Wizardmon spoke up politely. "We should be wary of getting too caught up in details like this when the Emperor is still terrorising the digital world. These things have a habit of becoming clearer with time, in my experience at least. So stopping him should be our primary objective."

"I'm all for that," Koromon said darkly, from his position in Rei's lap.

"So we should focus on defeating the Emperor then?" Tai guessed.

"I don't like all this 'we' talk," Mari said, folding her arms. "It's nice to see you and all Tai, but we can't really do much except brainstorm for you and your little group. No matter how much we'd like to pretend differently."

Tai felt the mood in the room shift as she said this. Hideto looked down sadly at the floor whilst Sigma refused to make eye contact. Wizardmon put a reassuring hand on his partner's shoulder, eliciting a small smile from the boy, but it did little to ease the sudden tension. Rei shifted nervously, her hands placed on top of Koromon's head, absentmindedly playing with his feelers.

"It's not like you really need it though," Rei murmured so softly only Koromon heard her. "I've never even had a partner. I've never really been any help at all..."

"There is still hope," Hideto reminded Mari. "We know both Sigma and Neo's partners survived. So it's possible Rosemon-"

"Wizardmon escaping from that monster was a fluke and you know it!" she hissed, before her face fell and her voice became soft. "Absorbed digimon never come back. Your partners might still be out there but don't you dare try and fool me into thinking mine might be."

Mari then stood up and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Mari, I didn't-," Hideto began, before quickly going after her.

Tai stared after her sudden exit in shock and realisation slowly crawled its way through his skull. It had been present before but only now did he really notice it. He hadn't been the only one still hurting from their very first adventure or the only one to try and cover it up.

He'd merely been the worst at doing so.

* * *

The first thing Tk registered as they drew over the lip of the hill were the numerous fleeing villagers. Panicking and screaming, the rookies and in-training digimon were running and flying wildly towards the edges of the great bowl in which their village was located.

'Those are Biyomon!' he thought in disbelief, distant memories of a village of Yokomon in a desert rising to the forefront of his mind.

But this situation was very different to a rampaging Meramon. A part of the village exploded with lightning, silencing several screaming voices. A small cloud of data rushed upwards into the sky and Tk's eyes tracked it as it rose higher and higher.

And then he saw their attacker.

It hovered above the village like a giant green hornet. A massive green bird with arms and a plate of metal rivetted to it's forehead. The creature cawed out triumphantly as it absorbed the data of those digimon into its being, then charged up another attack.

Except this time there was a roar to greet it. Rising from a cave in the wall came a Birdramon. Screeching in defiance, it shot fire towards the ultimate which rebounded harmlessly off it's hide. The Parrotmon took no notice and lightning sparked between it's ears. With another cry the bolt fired downwards into the village below.

"That's Parrotmon!" Patamon yelled. "He's an ultimate level, that Birdramon doesn't stand a chance on it's own! We have to digivolve now!"

"Right!" Tk ground out, hands clenched in anger.

Without another seconds delay, a bright light enveloped Patamon and Angemon leapt forwards towards the preoccupied ultimate. With a cry it's claw struck the charging Birdramon in the chest, sending it down into the dirt far below.

"Hand of Fate!"

Parrotmon lurched as the powerful attack slammed into the back of it's head. It roared and turned, before swooping down towards its newest challenger. Angemon quickly flew upwards, barely avoiding a swing from one of it's arms. The ultimate circled round, ready to fly after Angemon.

"Fire Rocket!"

"Lightning Sting!"

Fire and lightning shot from below, blowing into the creature's back. Enraged, it turned towards the two new digimon entering the fray.

"You go, Flamedramon!" Davis yelled out, catching up to Tk with a cheer.

"FlyBeemon... don't let him get away!" Yolei commanded, panting as she reached the crest of the hill.

FlyBeemon immediately launched himself higher into the sky, shooting past Parrotmon's face as as distraction. Flamedramon surrounded himself with fire and leapt up into the air. He shot forwards at a blistering pace and nailed the ultimate in the stomach. Barely even affected, Parrotmon angrily swatted Flamedramon out of the air.

"Flamedramon!" Davis cried as his partner screamed and slammed into one of the houses below. "Don't worry buddy, I'm coming!"

"Davis, don't!" Kari yelled out, still trying to run up the crest of the hill.

She reached after her friend as he raced down the hill but was far too slow. Davis sprinted directly underneath Parrotmon, whose eyes lit up at the small tasty human below. Then another arc of electricity hit his back along with a bolt of light. Growling, the human forgotten, the ultimate turned towards Angemon and Flybeemon, who both got ready to defend.

"What's happening?!" Kari asked, trying to keep an eye on Davis, who darted in and out of the small buildings below.

"It's a Parrotmon," Tk said, not taking his eyes off the fight. "Ultimate level. It just took out Flamedramon."

A beam of pure light missed the ultimate and lanced through one of the houses below, making Kari wince. She exchanged a worried glance with Tk, then took out her digivice.

Angemon and FlyBeemon parted as Parrotmon tried to slam into them. They fired their attacks, but this time it simply raised its head, making both attacks strike his metal plate harmlessly. Angemon and FlyBeemon exchanged a glance, before both shooting forwards as fast as they could.

"Poison Stinger!" FlyBeemon cried out, going low and jabbing his tail into Parrotmon's flesh.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried, his fist turning gold as he went high and punched the ultimate in the face.

Parrotmon flapped his wings, ascending into the air above the two digimon, then dived down.

It grabbed each of their heads in it's oversized fists as it flew down and rocketed towards the ground. Accelerating faster and faster it slammed the two into the foot of the hill, causing the ground to shake and the Chosen above to lose their balance.

"No," whispered Yolei as the dust cleared to reveal an unconscious Hawkmon in one of the craters.

Parrotmon ascended into the air again, glaring down at the children. Upon realising all its targets were gathered in once place, the ultimate sensed its opportunity and spread its wings. The very air around it seemed to warp as it gathered its energy for a far more powerful attack.

"Mjolnir Lightning!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

The arrow of light slammed into its head, sending the storm of electricity far above the heads of the Chosen. Parrotmon snarled, facing yet another opponent.

"How about you fight me?" Angewomon declared, brandishing her bow with a clear challenge.

Parrotmon grunted, as if accepting her challenge and squared off to fight its fellow ultimate.

Light against lightning.

But it had failed to notice the strong yellow light coalescing below.

A furious MagnaAngemon slowly rose up behind the ultimate.

"So then," the angel said, igniting Excalibur. "Want to try ramming me again?"

Stuck between two pissed off ultimate angel digimon, Parrotmon decided that it had pushed its luck far enough. It drew back its mighty wings and sent a blast of wind towards the children down below. Immediately, the angels darted in front of the children to protect them.

"A feint!" MagnaAngemon realised too late, as Parrotmon instead rose into the air. "He's getting away!"

"It won't be that easy!" Angewomon shouted, aiming her bow at the retreating ultimate. "Celestial Ar-"

"Wait!" cried out Iori, catching up to everyone else. "Don't shoot; it's running away!"

Angewomon turned, her lip curled in disgust.

"It tried to kill us," she argued, her voice echoing across the hill. "And these innocent villagers."

"And you stopped him!" Iori shouted. "Now he's running away! You don't need to fight any more!"

"Iori!" Tk protested.

Angewomon stared straight at Iori's unwavering figure for several seconds. She looked straight into his eyes and held his gaze silently. Slowly, she lowered her bow and the arrow of light vanished. She and MagnaAngemon then began to descend down towards their partners.

Yolei took the chance to run towards the crater where Hawkmon now lay.

"It's long gone," MagnaAngemon noted angrily, looking up towards the sky. "It was faster than I thought."

"I can't believe you just let it get away!" Tk said furious, mirroring his partner's frustration. "Iori, why did you tell her to stop?!"

"That digimon was running away!" he argued. "You can't just shoot him in the back."

"It also killed innocent digimon. We can't just let it get away with that!"

"You nearly killed him anyway. He won't be coming back here ever again! And what good would more killing do? Would it bring any of them back?"

Tk just glared.

There was a flash of yellow light and a surprised Tk barely caught Tokomon before he hit the ground. The older boy took a deep breath, before glaring at Iori and stomping off towards the village without another word. Iori stared after him with a scowl on his own face.

Kari watched as Tk stormed off, Angewomon by her side.

Where had that come from? Her last memory of Tk had been them saying a cheerful goodbye to him when they were eight just before leaving the digital world. Since when had he become so full of anger? It was like he was suddenly a completely different person.

Davis had to practically crawl through the tiny opening that was the dwellings front door. Inside, the elaborately made house had been smashed to pieces by his partner plummeting through the roof and what looked like a second floor.

Shattered bits of wood and what looked like moss and straw were scattered everywhere. He soon spotted a hint of blue amongst all the brown and quickly dug away at the pile of junk in the centre.

"Veemon, Veemon, are you there?" he called out, only to leap backwards as a blue head shot out of the junk and nearly hit him.

"Davis!" Veemon said, hugging his partner hard. "You survived! I guess Angewomon and MagnaAngemon kicked that overgrown bird's butt, right?"

Davis' face froze for a moment before he smiled again.

"Yeah," he admitted, before his usual cheer returned. "But don't worry; they just got lucky this time. Next time, we'll be the ones to win!"

"You bet!" Veemon cheered. "Flamedramon isn't finished yet!"

The two bumped fists and clambered back outside the house, only to run into Tk carrying Tokomon.

"Yo, Tg!" Davis called. "You may have won this fight, but next time it'll be Flamedramon, got that?"

Tk just gave him a derisive look and kept on walking towards the centre of the village.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me, Tf! Tk? Tk!"

Back on the hill, Kari began addressing her partner.

"Are you alright, Angewomon?" she asked. "Sorry I didn't ask earlier, I got distracted."

"It's alright. I am fine," the ultimate said, staring after Tk as well. "Is something the matter, Kari?"

"Why did you listen to Iori? You could have just ignored him, you know."

"I could have," Angewomon admitted. "But he wants to be one of us, which means accepting consequences for his choices. Whatever happens to Parrotmon now is his responsibility."

The ultimate was bathed in a soft pink light and began to shrink. When the light faded she looked down at her new form.

"Oh damn it!" the high-pitched voice of Salamon cried out, making Kari laugh.

Nearby, a certain rookie was slowly regaining consciousness.

"Did anyone catch the name of that Trailmon?" Hawkmon groaned weakly in Yolei's arms, making the girl smile.

"How are you feeling, Hawkmon?" she asked, letting the rookie get to his feet.

"I took a rather hard knock to the noggin," Hawkmon said, shaking himself a little. "But I fear my pride was injured far worse than my body. I shall recover with time.

"You did great out there," Yolei argued. "You just got unlucky, that's all!"

"Your concern for me warms my heart, Miss Yolei."

"Then let's go catch up to Davis and Tk," Yolei decided, standing up as well. "We still need to find Cody's digimental. Hey Cody, Kari; let's go find Tk and Davis!"

"Alright," Kari picked up an annoyed Salamon and made to move. "Are you coming, Iori?"

The boy just stood there, unhearing. His hands were clenched into fists as he stared despondently at the ground.

"Iori, are you alright?" Kari asked.

Still no response.

"Oh brother," she heard Yolei mutter as the girl marched towards the younger boy. "Come on, Cody. Don't be a stick in the mud!"

She grabbed him by the hand and led him towards the village.

"Let's go see what the two idiot boys are up to-"

"I can walk!" Iori protested, wrenching his arm out of her grip. "And it's Iori."

He walked faster, stubbornly trying to outpace the older girl. Yolei smiled at the sight, much to Kari's bewilderment, before jogging lightly to keep with the child's furious pace.

'Those two have a weird dynamic,' she noted. 'But at least we're all mostly together... and still alive, I guess.'

Why couldn't everyone just get along?

* * *

The room had descended into an uncomfortable silence after Mari and Hideto left. Tai sat there on Neo's bed, not knowing what to say to the remaining three humans in the room. Why was it that he had known them for years now, but he still didn't fully understand them?

He had really messed up.

"If you need me to fight, I can," Wizardmon suddenly said. "I owe you and Gatomon too much to just stay on the side-lines. That is, unless Sigma has any problems with it?"

"No I- I can't ask you to do that," Tai answered quickly before Sigma could say anything. "Not after losing your partner once before. I mean, that's bad enough. I can't make you risk something like that again-"

"Not yet," the boy declared, surprising everyone present. "Wizardmon and I will help you out at some point, but not yet. We won't be able to accomplish much as we are right now, but don't worry; we won't let you down."

Neo smirked at this.

"Well I can't say I'll be much help," he declared, ignoring the look Tai gave him. "But you know whose side I'm on, Yagami."

"Me too!" Rei declared, sitting up sharply. "I'll be right behind you as well, Taichi! If anyone can do it, it's you!"

"Thanks for the support, guys," Tai said. "But I think me and Koromon should be heading back."

"I'll escort you outside," Neo rose, heading towards the bedroom door with Tai following closely behind. "And visit more often. Mari would have gotten this off of her chest years ago if you had."

With a final goodbye to Rei, Koromon bounded out of Rei's arms and into Tai's.

The two walked across the landing and were about to head down the stairs when Neo stopped him. He motioned for a perplexed Tai to follow him and they went behind another closed door, before talking.

"Since I know you too well, I thought I would say this now and get it over with," Neo began, folding his arms. "Don't you dare blame yourself for Mari's problems. I know you're an idiot and seem to feel guilty about everything, but this isn't your fault."

Tai couldn't stop gaping.

"Are, are you trying to be comforting?"

"Don't read too much into it," Neo growled. "I respect you Tai, and it annoys me to watch you mope."

"It annoys me too," Koromon piped up. "Just thought you might want to know."

"Thanks, Koromon."

"Anytime!"

Tai chuckled, despite the mood.

"So Neo, did you really mean what you said if I visited more often?"

Neo rolled his eyes.

"Yes you simpleton. You are a constant living reminder of the digital world and our pasts with it. You only visit when there's something to do with the digital world happening and always ask for advice or guidance from us. Wizardmon normally stays at Sigma's house, occasionally going on walks or buying groceries. As a result, we rarely see him as it is. But you, Taichi, are impossible to ignore. Each of us, in some way, owes you big and that kind of debt isn't settled easily."

"I don't understand."

"Mari in particular is afraid to have hope that her partner could still be alive after Arkadimon ate her. A false hope can be the cruellest thing. After all, as Mari thinks, if Rosemon still somehow existed then she was either prevented from finding her again, or chose not to. Now if it was Zero in Rosemon's place, which of these options would be more appealing to you?"

"I guess that makes sense."

"Exactly. Now if you want my advice about this 'Emperor', learn to look at fighting him from a different angle."

"Like target the Control Spires first, that sort of thing?"

"Not exactly. You're seeing it as a simple war, how you can cause the most damage to the other side, rather than what it truly is, a game. And the best way to win any game is to know how your opponent thinks. The Emperor is a human, with human thoughts and human weaknesses and human motivations. Learn about him, understand the who, the how and the why. Once you have that knowledge and know how to use it, physical strength barely matters anymore. He will fall, perhaps slowly at first, but completely and utterly."

Tai swallowed nervously. Neo may have denied it, but there was definitely a reason Daemon chose him of all people to be the one to raise Arkadimon, not to mention the affect the boy had had on his original partner.

Neo scoffed at the look on Tai's face.

"Well that's just my recommendation-"

The door suddenly opened behind them. A rather large man in a business suit stood there in the doorway, holding a suitcase in one hand and a number of papers with the other. He had soft reddish hair like Rei's, but possessed a far sterner complexion. He gazed down at the two, a single eyebrow rising.

"Am I interrupting anything, son?" he asked, looking between the two as a smile appeared. "I need to use the computer. There are some finances I have to work on otherwise Mitsuo will kill me."

"He was just leaving," Neo said quickly, before gesturing towards Tai. "Come on, Yagami."

Neo's father stared after the two with a strange expression on his face.

"Huh, didn't know kids that age still carried around toys," he murmured, before shutting the door behind them.

* * *

Had anything made it even more blatant that Iori didn't belong with the Digidestined it was his argument with Tk. The younger boy shot a glance at the older boy and even now his shoulders were hunched and his brow was furrowed.

Even as they all gathered around the injured Birdramon in the middle of the village, Tk still seemed to be dwelling on Parrotmon, his thoughts a mystery to Iori.

Tk had been so understanding, so interested in what he had to say that his sudden anger at him hurt horribly.

Perhaps he shouldn't have said anything, not told Angewomon to let Parrotmon get away. But the very thought of letting another digimon die when there was something he could have done to prevent it, it made something deep within him curl and snarl.

The proud champion was being supported by several Biyomon, whilst many more surrounded the children, eyeing them warily as if they would attack at any moment.

The Birdramon was surveying them silently, an odd look in the creature's eyes as it regarded each of the children in turn.

Kari wasn't sure what was going on inside the creature's head, but it was worrying to look at. Deciding to take the initiative, she walked forwards with her arms raised passively. Salamon stalked her steps, giving off looks towards any of the villagers near them.

"Um, are you hurt?" Kari asked, then internally cursed at her poor choice of words. "I mean, are you feeling alright? We're sorry we didn't get here earlier-"

"You are the Digidestined, correct?" Birdramon questioned, her massive face tilting towards Kari. "Humans who work together with digimon?"

"Yes- yes we are."

"Then I should thank you for defending our home," the champion continued. "That is not the first time Parrotmon has ravaged our community and I doubt it will be the last."

"So he's attacked before?" Tk affirmed, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, but never like this," Birdramon said. "Something has emboldened him. I fear that between his attacks and the recent earthquakes, we won't be able stay here for much longer."

"Earthquakes?!" Yolei asked, eyes lighting up with excitement. "You get earthquakes here?"

"Only in the last few months," Birdramon continued. "Before that we never had any trouble at all. Then the earthquakes began and those who ventured too deep into the caves never returned. After that, Parrotmon began raiding us. He never said why or what he wanted, but he slowly wore us down in numbers until all that's left is what you see here. Had you all not arrived when you did, we would likely be data now."

"You're welcome," Kari managed eventually.

"We can investigate the cave problem for you as well," Tk offered. "It sounds like it could be serious.

"Yeah, don't sweat it!" Davis cheered, standing next to Kari. "We'll go sort out whatever is causing those earthquakes and get back your missing villagers."

"Davis, don't make promises you can't keep!" Yolei said stepping forwards.

"That's very kind of you," Birdramon spoke. "I will have a meal prepared for you before you leave. It's… the least I can do."

The meal itself consisted of little more than plant roots and berries mixed together into a strange stew. None of them had the heart to tell the villagers how it truly tasted. Nevertheless the meal did its job. Soon both Gatomon and Patamon were back at full fighting strength.

Not long afterwards the Chosen all found themselves outside the entrance to the cave that led deeper into the mountain.

Primitive torches lined the walls downwards, along with numerous straw beds and other crudely made furniture. Birdramon simply flexed her wings and sent two trails of fire down either side of the cave.

The torches all burst to life as far down as the eye could see, leading straight into the darkness beyond.

"We used to live inside the caves when we were younger," Birdramon explained. "They were always a useful defence against anyone who would try to attack our village. But since the earthquakes and disappearances, no one dares to stay in here any longer."

"Don't worry, Birdramon," Davis strode forwards. "With us around, you'll be able to live in your caves again in no time!"

"But what if Parrotmon comes back while we're down there?" Kari said, thinking. "They'll be defenceless."

"Then we'll split up," Tk decided. "Iori will go down with you guys, me and Kari will stay up here!"

Iori folded his arms.

"You mean so no one will stop you from killing whatever gets near the village?"

"No, I mean no one will stop me from protecting the village."

"You are both getting on my nerves!" Yolei yelled out. "I suggest you and Cody both go down while whoever wants to stay up here, stays here."

"I agree with Yolei," Kari said, before Tk could argue back. "Yolei and I will stay up here in case Parrotmon comes back. You guys can go down there and search for whatever is causing these problems."

"But Kari-"

"You're not thinking straight, Tk," Kari stated, fixing Tk with her best disappointed look. "Just go down there and please try to get along with Iori, alright?"

Tk swallowed his retort at the look on her face and nodded. Iori didn't look pleased either, but he said nothing in protest.

"Keep those two out of trouble, Davis," she asked her friend. "And I can't believe I just said that."

Davis just grinned back at her teasing.

"Hey, you know me! I get on well with everyone!" he claimed with a smile.

"Oh I'm well aware," Kari answered. "Good luck you three!"

The three humans and two digimon proceeded down the lit tunnel.

"By the way, if Parrotmon appears, send Yolei down to get me!" Davis yelled. "I'll come up and save you girls!"

"Like hell you will!" Yolei shouted back angrily.

Within seconds the entrance to the tunnel vanished as the passage curved and all that was lighting their way were the torches along the walls. After a few more minutes of walking, the torches stopped and the floor became rockier and less worn.

Fortunately Flamedramon was more than happy to help guide them along the way. Holding a ball of fire in his hand, he went first into the darkness and as a result was the first to cry out in alar when the walls began to bend.

"Whoa! Hold up everyone!"

The ground suddenly shook and dust fell from the ceiling, In an instant, Davis felt his partner's grip surround him until the shaking subsided.

"Are you alright, Davis?" Flamedramon asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Was that the earthquake?"

"Probably, let's keep moving."

"Perhaps going underground when we knew earthquakes were occurring wasn't such a smart idea," Iori pointed out.

"Well would you rather nothing be done?" Tk rounded on him. "That the people here continue to suffer?"

"I never said that…" Iori replied quietly.

Tk's face softened.

"Look, Iori. I'm-"

"Hold up!" Flamedramon yelled.

Putting his flaming fist forwards he illuminated the sheer drop in front of him.

"That's deep!" Davis gasped. "How are we supposed to get down there?"

"Well duh," Patamon said, flying off of Tk's head. "Patamon digivolve to-"

 _Beep!_

The rookie blinked,

"-Patamon?"

"What's wrong, Patamon?" Tk was by his partner's side in an instant. "Are you still tired?"

"I don't think so."

"Well that's great, now how are we supposed to get down there?!"

"Guys, was that drop there a second ago?" Iori wondered, cautiously looking over the edge. "Because I don't think it was-ARGH!"

Suddenly the rocks he was standing on crumbled and fell. Both Flamedramon and Tk leapt for him, but each were too slow by a fraction of a second.

For one single moment, Tk's eyes locked onto those of the nine year old's. Then reality caught up.

Iori screamed as he plummeted down helplessly into the abyss.

"IORI!" Tk screamed.

Then it was silent, almost anticlimactic. No other pieces of rock crumbled and fell. No one else plummeted to their deaths. There were no more rumbles or earthquakes.

Just them and the silence of words that had been left unsaid.

Davis stared in shock at the point where Iori had been standing just a few seconds ago, pale as a ghost. He shook himself before putting a hand on Tk's shoulder.

"We should go get Kari and Yolei," he said. "Their digimon can fly, they could go and get him."

"Davis," Tk choked out in disbelief. "He's not- He's not going to be-"

He caught sight of the drop again.

Tk screamed and punched the ground hard enough to make his knuckles bleed.

"Fuck! I didn't mean to- Why wasn't I faster?!"

"Don't beat yourself up, man! He has to be alive just waiting down there for us."

"Are you stupid?!" Tk roared, getting into Davis' face. "How the hell could he be-"

"Because if he was then maybe you'd do something about it!" Davis yelled back equally angry. "I thought hope was your thing, but I guess not. Come on, Flamedramon lets go back to the surface, quickly!"

"Alright," his partner agreed.

Flamedramon took one last look at the despondent Tk, before following his partner back out through the passage that they came.

They had only been jogging for about ten minutes before the rapid sound of shoes hitting the rock behind them made Davis smirk.

"Guess there's some fighting spirit in you after all, Te."

"Shut up," Tk replied. "We'll get the girls and rescue Iori. You're right Davis, he isn't dead. He can't be dead. He hasn't even found his partner yet!"

The light soon appeared at the end of the tunnel, the two boys and one digimon sprinting towards it.

They burst outside still sprinting and slowly came to a stop.

"Kari, Yolei, we need your help!" Tk began, then stopped.

Suddenly it had become all too clear why Patamon couldn't digivolve. That horrendous earthquake hadn't even been genuine.

"Well now," the Emperor laughed, Stingmon and Parrotmon standing directly behind him. "There you are."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Iori woke up in a dimly lit chamber. His limbs ached from the fall, but he seemed otherwise uninjured.

Slowly he sat up and rubbed his eyes, sniffling a little. He didn't know where he was or what else could be down here.

He was all alone.

Standing up, he did his best to soldier onwards. He had to get out of here before another earthquake happened or he had an actually fatal fall.

At least this time he could see a little.

Blinking, Iori turned his head to look at the source of the light.

"I-is that a digimental?" he murmured, transfixed by its glow. "It's beautiful."

He slowly, cautiously crept towards it and put his hands around it. If he truly was a Chosen, a digidestined, then his partner would appear when he lifted it up.

Iori lifted the digimental up above his head and light exploded from below. A column of yellow shot forth from beneath the ground the artefact had sat, nearly knocking Iori over.

"Hey there, hero!" a boisterous voice called out as a shape leapt out at him. "What's going on?"

Iori stared at the strange shelled creature standing in front of him.

"Hello? Hello?" it asked, tilting its head. "You don't seem all there, son."

"Hey w-wait a minute, who are you?" Iori demanded.

"I'm Armadillomon, of course!" he replied cheerfully. "Wow, we're in a pretty depressing place at the moment."

"I don't know how to get out," Iori admitted shamefully. "I'm sorry."

"Hey it ain't your fault," Armadillomon said. "So quit worrying. You know, I bet if I could digivolve we'd get out of this mess pretty quickly."

"Yeah, but that means I need to show a virtue," Iori stated, before showing his new partner the egg. "Specifically this one."

"Well if you could pick it up, then you must have it in some form," Armadillomon decided. "Although I don't really understand how it works."

"But there has to be some mistake," Iori protested. "I'm not like any of the others. I don't have any of their virtues!"

"Huh?"

"I'm not brave, I don't have friends, I'm not in love, I don't know anything and I can't do anything, and now I can't stop crying!"

"Hey now," Armadillomon said tenderly. "What's gotten you like this?"

Reluctantly, Iori divulged the full story of what had happened over the last hour. From his initial doubts to being a Chosen, to Tk yelling at him for sparing Parrotmon, until finally he fell down here and had been abandoned.

"Well it sounds to me like you have plenty of virtues," Armadillomon said cheerfully. "You've just got to see it yourself. Why did you spare Parrotmon for example?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to die," Iori explained. "We didn't know why it was attacking. Tk just thought I was being stupid."

"Well you might have been, but that doesn't matter now. Do you regret it? Would you feel worse if you had said nothing and Parrotmon had been destroyed?"

Iori frowned, thinking back.

"I don't regret it. I would feel worse, I couldn't let anything die needlessly like that! Not now, not ever!"

The digimental erupted with light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Flamedramon charged at Stingmon, claws out and ready to slice. The champion just parried his attack and swung at him with his blade. The Armour was forced to jump back, only to be rammed into the cliff by the larger digimon.

"Lightning Paw!"

"Lightning Sting!"

FlyBeemon and Gatomon both tried to attack Parrotmon, who simply let them bounce off his thick hide before attacking again. He glided around the Control Spire now jutting out of the middle of the village before yelling.

"Sonic Destroyer!"

Lightning fired downwards and into the village, blowing apart several houses.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon cried out, flying despite her injuries and a black ring now firmly locked around her leg.

The balls of fire shot down upon the champion's former village, setting alight and deleting anyone unlucky enough to still be there.

The Emperor laughed.

"It seems you're missing someone," he noted, looking down upon the four humans who were cowering in the mouth of a cave. "And I see you have gained a new member. You really are like rats aren't you? Popping up everywhere out of the woodwork."

"That's the Emperor?!" Yolei screeched. "He's our age!"

"What is he doing here?" Kari wondered. "Where did that Control Spire come from?"

"You didn't see?!" Davis asked incredulously. "You were up here!"

"Birdramon was showing us the other caves when an earthquake happened," Kari explained. "The next thing we knew, Parrotmon was attacking, rings were flying through the air and the Spire was right in the middle of the village."

"If only we could digivolve," Tk muttered. "Patamon could help them."

"Oh dear, it seems you're all in a spot of trouble," the Emperor noted. "To be honest, when Parrotmon reported seeing you here I was rather surprised. I don't know what it is you'd want with this place, but I'm sure you'll tell me… eventually."

"What is wrong with you?!" Yolei demanded. "Why would you do all this?"

"Because I can," the Emperor replied simply. "Not that your puny minds could understand my motives. Once you've all been dealt with, that older boy will be next. For daring to strike me his punishment will be the most severe."

"Like hell I'll let that happen!" Kari hissed.

"Well my dear, it's not like you'll be able to stop me."

Gatomon slammed into the cliff face as if for emphasis, leaving FlyBeemon alone to fight the ultimate.

"Poison Sting!" the Armour yelled, clipping Parrotmon with the attack just to get swatted out of the sky.

Birdramon then descended on FlyBeemon, fire building beneath her wings.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon cried out, sending several balls of fire at his own opponent.

Stingmon leapt up, his wings opening up and dodged every single shot. He then shot back down at a blistering speed.

"Spiking Strike!"

"Flame Shield!"

Fire burst forth from Flamedramon and into the champion. Stingmon winced as the flames licked up his arm and was forced to disengage.

"Please just surrender, or at least run away," the champion pleaded, feet once more on the ground. "My master won't be merciful; no matter what he may say."

"I won't abandon my partner," Flamedramon growled. "And I'd never let you harm these innocent digimon!"

Stingmon lowered his head in shame, before igniting his weapon once more.

"Then I'll end this quickly."

"Bring it!"

A part of the cliff then exploded.

"What?!" the Emperor cried out, looking towards the cloud of dust. "Is that the older boy?"

A dull roar could be heard, slowly gaining in volume until the Chosen could feel it through their bones.

Faster than anyone could react, the smoke billowed outwards and a blur shot straight into the Control Spire. The dark tower exploded, its top half falling to the ground.

"What?! No!" the Emperor yelled.

Birdramon shook herself awake, the black ring on her leg having no power over her.

"What happened?"

"Err, you attacked us," FlyBeemon explained, still pinned under her claw. "Could you perchance, release me?"

"Now's our chance!" Tk realised. "Patamon go!"

The rookie leapt forwards out of the cave and in an instant, Angemon took his place. The champion shot forwards towards Parrotmon.

"No!" Iori shouted, sitting on the back of his new partner.

Rising out of the smoke, a new digimon emerged. The sunlight gleamed off of its polished metallic shell, sharp teeth combined with eagle-like eyes adorned its dinosaur shaped head. It had large sleek wings that resembled those of a jet fighter. Its engines hummed loudly, a powerful blue flame appearing in the back.

"Parrotmon is ours," Pteramon declared, his sharp eyes narrowing in as Iori hopped off. "Go help Flamedramon!"

Without warning, Pteramon shot forwards. Launching missiles towards Parrotmon. They slammed into the ultimate and exploded.

Unhurt, Parrotmon shrieked as Pteramon flew by.

"Over here, bird brain!" Pteramon declared. "Let's see how well you fly!"

Accepting his challenge, Parrotmon took off after the jet. The two circled each other, higher and higher into the clouds that lurked far above even the mountain they were standing upon.

Pteramon doubled back, spiralling under the charging ultimate he spotted what it was he had suspected.

'There!' he realised, spinning his wings and rolling through the air.

"Sonic Destroyer!" Parrotmon declared.

Pteramon's engines burst into life and was propelled away from the attack at unmatched speeds. He circled Parrotmon, continuously dodging attack after attack, before diving down towards the ground.

He pulled up out of the dive, barely avoiding the ultimate's final batch of lightning and taking aim.

"Missiles!" he screamed, unleashing a deadly barrage from below.

Parrotmon screeched as the missiles exploded beneath him, before he jittered like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.

The Dark Spiral that had been wrapped around one of its legs vanished in a burst of data. The ultimate fell out of the sky and slammed into the ground nearby.

Stingmon knocked Flamedramon away just in time to block a blow from Angemon. The angel had the upper hand, forcing the champion back before a low kick allowed him to gain some distance.

"Stingmon, to me!" the Emperor commanded.

His partner quickly backed off and grabbed him, before shooting off into the sky. Pteramon landed nearby where Iori was standing and within an instant he once more became Armadillomon.

Iori smiled at his partner and at the new digimental being displayed on his digivice.

"So you figured it out then?" Armadillomon walked up to his partner, and leant against it tiredly.

"Yeah," Iori said, looking at his digivice.

He may have his doubts about his crest and how he fit into the group, but it seemed something out there thought he was worthy of it. As the others gathered around him and much later a very apologetic Parrotmon flew off into distance, he couldn't help but feel maybe he did deserve his crest, if only a little.

A little love could go a long way.

* * *

 **A/N: Please tell me what it was you like, disliked, thought could have been done better as well as any other thoughts you had on the chapter.  
**

 **Since I'm in another country and have a very bad internet connection I can't answer any questions from the last chapter. I will answer them next update which will be 10th August.**

 **A HUGE thank you to everyone for your support. For reviewing, favouriting and following my stories. You guys are all great, never forget that.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Update on 10th August.**


	7. Chapter 6: Return to File Island

**A/N: Here's the latest chapter. It's a bit dialogue heavy but the next chapter should hopefully make up for that. So far I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support. It's all thanks to you guys this is here.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.**

* * *

 **Return to File Island**

Davis crouched down low as he slowly opened the door to his family's apartment. Taking extra care to close the door just as noiselessly as he entered, he then snuck forwards and waited patiently for the all clear. Everything hindered on his success here.

Even the smallest slip up could mean a complete catastrophe. He had to reach his room without arousing any suspicion from his family whatsoever. Otherwise his mom would ground him.

"Talk to me, what do you see?" he murmured, holding a single hand to his ear.

"Advance scout reporting, sir," DemiVeemon whispered excitedly from atop his partner's head, peering discreetly over the counter top. "Big Yeller is in the kitchen and... er..."

His little face scrunched up as he tried to remember the callsigns Davis had told him earlier.

"Come on Burning-Flame!" Davis hissed, trying to prompt him. "What's happening out there?!"

"Stupid-Hair just went into her room and Big Yeller is facing away from us!"

"Perfect!" Davis said. "Then this is our chance."

Trying to muffle his giggles, DemiVeemon quickly jumped down into Davis' arms as the boy quickly took cover behind the couch. His mother hummed as the sound of something steamed in a pan.

"Hmm, that smells good..." the digimon drooled.

"Focus!"

"Sorry, Skilled-Striker," DemiVeemon recovered quickly, before a shadow fell over the both of them.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jun asked.

Davis jumped, dropping DemiVeemon onto the hard floor.

"N-nothing!" Davis yelled, quickly grabbing DemiVeemon. "What are you doing?!"

"I just got home from tennis practice," Jun explained, crossing her arms. "And I see you're still carrying around that little toy. Where did you get that thing anyway? It looks kind of dirty."

Davis had to clamp a hand around his partner's mouth to stop him from yelling.

"He's not dirty!" he said. "And yeah right. I bet you were just ogling those shirtless soccer players again! I've seen the pictures you take!"

Jun's face turned red.

"You little brat!" she snarled and lunged for him.

Davis leapt away with a holler and vaulted over the couch as Jun missed.

"I'll shove that toy up your ass when I catch you!" she declared, chasing her little brother around the admittedly small living room.

"Language young lady!" their mother scolded, finally turning around to put an end to their nonsense. "And no running, especially with your shoes on, Daisuke!"

Davis froze, suddenly trapped by his mother's stern gaze. Jun also looked put out to be denied vengeance on her little brother.

"It's garbage day, Daisuke," their mother continued. "And it's your turn to take out the trash after dinner. I hope you hadn't forgotten, especially since most of the trash is from your room?"

The boy paled as he locked eyes with his mother.

"No, ma'am," he said saluting sincerely, before quickly darting past his sister and into his room.

"Hey!" Jun yelled as he slammed his door.

"I'll-be-out-when-dinner-is-ready!" he quickly said, before locking his door.

Tired, he slumped back against the door.

"That was close," he murmured.

"You're telling me," DemiVeemon agreed. "Your sister is scary."

"Oh yeah, why didn't you tell me she was behind me? Your job was to be looking out for her!"

"That's what I was supposed to be doing?!"

Davis blinked.

"You mean you didn't know?!"

"I was looking out for when the food would be ready," DemiVeemon said proudly. "I stopped listening to what you were saying days ago."

"DemiVeemon!"

Davis immediately resorted to the same punishment his older sister would use on him whenever he was being bratty.

"Noogie attack!"

"Aaaargh!"

* * *

Yolei leant against the counter and sighed. There were no customers, especially at this time in the evening. Her parents knew this, of course they did, yet she still had to stand here behind the counter for two hours every evening in case someone came in to buy something.

At the very least recently something new had brought a spark of excitement back into the job.

"Poromon, come down from there," she ordered for what had to be the fiftieth time that evening. "You're going to get dizzy."

"I can't stop!" the little in-training declared, flying around in circles around the ceiling fan. "I want to fly forever and ever!"

Each time he dipped down near the fan blades, she winced. Far below him, seven energy drinks lay there empty on the floor. She had given him one earlier because he was curious, but then he wouldn't stop and had started flying all around the crashed into things and through shelves and into fridges.

That was nearly two hours ago.

"Please come on down, my parents will be home soon!" Yolei pleaded with her partner. "If they catch you they might think you're a bird or a... insect of some kind. And I still have to clean this mess up!"

"I nearly caught it, Miss Yolei!" the in-training declared, flying in tighter and tighter circles. "Just a little longer..."

"For the love of..." Yolei muttered. "You're never going to catch your tail, Poromon! It's scientifically impossible, it's too short and you're flying in too wide a circle and... And... Well you're a ball!"

But Poromon still took no notice of her, constantly chasing his tail like a small flying puppy.

'Come on, Yolei,' she thought to herself. 'You didn't get the crest of knowledge for nothing!'

Looking around the store briefly, she soon spotted a broom. It was just long enough that if she stood on her toes she could probably just about nudge the in-training with it.

'Alright, not the most elegant of plans, but I guess simple is best!' she thought to herself brightly, grabbing the handle.

First, she turned off the ceiling fan, then quickly got into position. Aiming carefully, she got ready to give her partner a light tap to hopefully bring him back down to Earth.

"Hiya!"

 _Boop!_

Poromon was struck enough for him to go caterwauling off throughout the store. He bounced off walls and fridges and even the cash register once, before Yolei made a dive and managed to grab the digimon. She held on tightly, expecting him to struggle at least a little, but nothing.

Looking at the little digimon cradled in her arms, Yolei realised.

"He's fallen asleep," she muttered incredulously, before slowly standing up. "I guess digimon must have a really strong metabolism. He must have drank his own body weight at least."

She carefully placed the sleeping Poromon at the counter before picking up one of the empty cans.

'I'd probably be kept awake all night if I had one of these-' that sudden train of thought halted as she stared at the label. 'That's... not an energy drink. Oh dear.'

Yolei took a quick glance at her partner, happily snoring and unaware of the hell he would be feeling tomorrow. She grimaced at the thought.

At least he wouldn't ever want to drink it again.

* * *

Iori eyes tracked the progress of the small yellow ball bouncing around his room, his mind blank.

"What's this?" Upamon asked, looking over a set of papers.

'My homework,' Iori responded internally, a single thought breaking the surface of his mind for an instant before it gave in to the tide.

"This looks cool," Upamon declared, looking at the bonsai tree kept just outside Iori's window.

'My hobby,' Iori thought, eyes still following his partner as he skidded off the desk and under his bed.

"What's this thing?" Upamon wondered, looking up and down a small electronic device covered in dust.

'My former hobby.'

"Oooh!" Upamon said, bouncing away onto Iori's bed. "Ha-ha! This is fun! So bouncy!"

Iori watched silently as the sheets crumpled and creased from the force of Upamon's jumps.

"What's wrong, Cody?" Upamon asked, slowly coming to a stop. "You're even quieter than usual."

"You've only known me for a few hours, Upamon," Iori pointed out. "And it's Iori."

"That's not what that girl calls you," Upamon declared, jumping into his partner's arms. "And it may have only been a few hours, but I'm a pretty good judge of character. You seem worried."

"I-"

There was a knock on his door. Iori turned around to see his mother standing in the doorway.

"Iori, dinner's almost ready," she said. "And your grandpa's home a little early today."

"Thank you mother," Iori answered. "I'll be there in a minute."

With that his mother's kind face vanished back behind his bedroom door and Iori felt his face fall. No matter how happy she looked, the image just seemed wrong to him. Like it was missing something.

"Do you feel bad about not telling your mother and grandpa about me?" Upamon guessed. "You seem pretty honest."

'Grandpa told me that the truth is always preferable to a lie,' Iori thought, staring at the ground. 'But I'm not so sure...'

Iori shook his head. He was being silly. His grandpa knew far more about these sorts of matters than he did. A man as old and wise as him would always know better than someone as young as him. As long as his grandpa and mother didn't ask, he wouldn't tell them of Upamon. That would be the most sensible option.

"Is it that blonde kid? You kept giving him looks when we left the digital world," Upamon asked. "He didn't seem very talkative either."

Iori winced. Sure everything had turned out alright in the end, but it seemed there were some things that weren't so easily forgiven. He didn't fully understand what he had done to upset the twelve year old so much and the thought that they might never actually be friends made his stomach curl horribly.

Yet he didn't regret telling Angewomon to spare Parrotmon. Upamon claimed it was because of his love, although he didn't fully understand how that worked. He didn't love that creature, or anyone outside of his family. So how did that make him worthy of the Digimental of Love?

"You shouldn't be worried about what other people think," his partner declared. "You're a good person and that's all that matters."

Iori sighed.

"Thanks, Upamon," he said tiredly. "But I'm going to have dinner and go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

* * *

The Emperor grunted in strain as he cracked his whip. Again and again he struck the unmoving Birdramon in front of him, who took the punishment silently as had been ordered. Behind him, Stingmon was forced to watch and doing his best not to cringe as his master struck the same spot over and over again.

It was a testament to the Emperor's physical strength and sheer determination that a mark was actually beginning to appear on the champion chest. Even as sweat appeared on his forehead and his arms began to ache, he didn't slow down in his assault until his anger was spent.

Slowly he stood there panting with exhaustion. His shoulders were slumped and he glared behind his glasses at the champion that had dared to defy him. Whatever those children had wanted from that village must have been long gone. There had been no defences or any extra protection when he had returned.

Well except for his former slave, Parrotmon. He hadn't been a match for his greatest pet and the Emperor didn't grant second chances.

After that the rest fell quickly.

"You're dismissed," he told the Birdramon coldly, composing himself and slowly standing to his full height.

The Birdramon bowed before hobbling off out of the chamber, ignoring the lash marks on its chest. The Emperor then walked out of the chamber and Stingmon quickly trailed after him.

The Dark Spirals still needed improvements, the one on Parrotmon had caused the ultimate to act unreasonably aggressive and disobey his strict orders to only scout out nearby villages to conquer. His lip curled in disgust. Digimon were such utter savages. These uncivilised cretins were only interested in what immediately benefitted them. The ultimate had been unable to resist attacking villages just to load some easily procured data.

Of course he did have something to thank those children for. Had they not appeared he wouldn't have discovered Parrotmon's activities and therefore the limitations of his Dark Spiral. Fortunately, aggression seemed to come naturally to his greatest pet, Dark Spiral or not.

The Emperor groaned as he took note of the time on his digivice. It was late and his parents would demand an explanation. Not that that would be hard, the two sycophants would do anything to please their 'genius' son, and a few well-placed words would have them grovelling at his feet.

'Like they should,' he thought, frowning. 'They should be honoured just to have me grace their home.'

"I'm leaving for the day, Stingmon," he said, addressing the champion without even looking at him. "I expect you to keep conquering sectors throughout the night. I don't want to come back to a disappointment like last time."

"But master, I'm in need of rest," Stingmon admitted, having taken several blows during the day. "My injuries are-"

"I don't care," the Emperor said. "You've proven yourself to not be quite as useless as I used to think you were. To be honest there were times I contemplated getting rid of you."

He turned to regard the much champion.

" _Don't_ make me regret my decision."

"O-of course, sir."

With a final smirk, the Emperor took his digivice and vanished in a flash of light. Stingmon collapsed almost immediately without his partner's power to keep him going. With a flash of light he reverted back to Wormmon, who lay there groaning on the floor. Days of being kept in his champion state were taking their toll.

"But I still have work to do..." the rookie moaned, before looking at the monitor.

His face softened and tears glistened in the corners of his eyes.

"You didn't really mean that, did you Ken?"

* * *

"I thought we were going to the digital world!" Davis proclaimed loudly, as he, Yolei and Iori followed Tk and Kari down some concrete steps. "Where exactly are you leading us?!"

"And what's with all the secrecy?" Yolei asked. "I mean you actually had Gatomon unscrew a sewer grate earlier!"

"It's harder than it looks," the feline responded idly, examining her claws. "Can't break anything after all."

"Well Izzy wanted us to meet over here," Tk stated. "He didn't say why."

"Maybe it's some plan to sneak into the school," Yolei guessed, Poromon sleeping softly in her arms. "I mean I doubt they'd just let us in through the front doors."

"That seems unnecessarily risky," Iori pointed out, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings with clear anxiety. "If we got caught sneaking into school, we'd all be in serious trouble."

"I think it sounds cool!" Davis said, grinning at the thought along with DemiVeemon. "Maybe we could take out a few of the windows as well, right Iori?"

The younger boy scowled.

"Davis!" Kari scolded. "Don't pull his leg like that! Anyway, we're almost there."

They continued to go under bridges, through waterways and stairs that looked as if they hadn't been cleaned since they were built. Then they rounded a particular corner and the three newest Chosen stopped in shock.

"Is- is that a trolley car?!" Yolei asked, staring in disbelief.

"How did that get down here?!" Davis wondered, looking around as if he could spot the tracks it had fallen from.

"How long has that been there?" Iori breathed.

"About four years," Tk answered, walking forwards. "Come on, the others are already inside."

"Oh and Yolei," Kari suddenly said. "This is why we didn't want anyone following us."

Yolei simply nodded as she took in the sight of the vehicle. Vines had grown all over the vehicle, covering it almost entirely. Red and white flowers were dotted amongst the leaves and covering the metal with only small parts of the windows spared. Through the glass and between the vines, shadows could be seen moving around inside.

"It's beautiful," Yolei murmured.

"You can thank Mimi for that," Tk said fondly. "She's the one who really spruced this place up."

"If it wasn't for her we all probably wouldn't still be in contact with each other," Kari admitted.

The five of them with their digimon all approached the vehicle, when the door opened and Agumon stepped out.

"Ha, I thought I smelt something! They're here!" the digimon cried.

"Are you saying we smell, Agumon?" Kari joked, pretending to pout. "Although we did come in through the sewer entrance."

"There were other entrances?" Davis muttered in annoyance as both Yolei and Iori gaped at the dinosaur.

"What is- I mean who are you?" Yolei asked, correcting herself quickly.

"You don't remember me, Yolei?" Agumon pointed a claw at his face. "Last time you saw me I was Koromon, now I'm Agumon."

"Y-you were that little pink ball?!"

"Hey! Look who's here!" a deeper voice suddenly declared.

Their eyes turned back towards the door where a tall blonde boy now stood.

"Matt!" Tk said, before embracing his brother. "You came after all!"

Matt smiled.

"Only to help keep an eye on everyone," he admitted, before looking over the others. "Not to mention meeting the newbies."

Davis immediately stepped forwards. Pointing a thumb towards himself he began,

"I'm Davis-"

"Did you say they're here?!" a new voice interrupted, poking her face around Matt.

"Hey Mimi," Kari greeted warmly. "It's good to see you."

"Likewise Kari!" Mimi responded, elbowing her way past Matt to grasp the younger girl's hands. "I can't wait to go back in and find Palmon. I hope she's at File Island anyway. Anyway, all of you should come in! We made enough food for everyone! Kari, Izzy has something to show you, I promise you'll love it!"

With that the cheerful girl quickly went back inside, dragging a surprised Kari along with her.

"I-is she always like that?" Iori asked Matt, a feeling of dread building in his stomach.

"Oh no," Matt replied casually. "Sometimes she's much worse. Come on, you can introduce yourselves inside."

As they followed the older boy inside it immediately became clear this was more than just an ordinary clubhouse. The lights were functioning, it was warmer than outside and the doors themselves opened mechanically to let them in. The windows, the seats, even the floor was clean and pictures of various Chosen doing all sorts of activities lined the walls.

Where the driver would have ordinarily sat, Mimi and Kari were pouring over something with Izzy on his laptop. In the middle of the room, a large box was open with packed food and Tai, Sora and Joe were sitting in the middle, their lunches already open. Matt and Tk sat down near them, already engaged in their own private conversation.

"Oh hey!" Tai proclaimed with his mouth full, raising a hand in greeting.

"Don't talk with your mouthful, Tai," Kari said from the front without even turning around.

Tai swallowed.

"Don't be a nag, Kari. I was just saying hello. Not my fault they came in when I was eating."

"Well you're a glutton, Tai," Sora agreed before turning a kind smile towards the others. "Ignore him. Please, sit down and introduce yourselves. Izzy, Mimi get over here!"

"You all have your partners already?" Joe looked over the three of them. "That's good. The digital world isn't always a friendly place. You should also make sure they eat, you don't want them to run out of energy before a potential fight."

As the new kids sat down, Agumon quickly returned to his seat next to Tai and began to devour his lunch at a terrifying pace. The older Chosen ignored this with a practiced ease and gathered around to have a look at the newer kids, sitting down around them.

"So, does that mean I can eat now, Davis?" DemiVeemon asked, eyeing the box of food.

"Yeah buddy, knock yourself out."

"But wouldn't that hurt?"

"Food, woohoo!" Upamon screeched, leaping into the food box and grabbing something.

"Upamon," Iori muttered a little embarrassed. "Just be sure not to waste anything."

"Um, Poromon's sleeping at the moment," Yolei explained quickly, blushing at all the eyes on her. "He had a bit of an exciting night."

"Nothing to worry about," Izzy said. "It's not like we're actually expecting to be attacked."

"Although it did happen to us often on File Island," Matt pointed out.

"Don't be such a pessimist," Mimi said, folding her arms. "I thought blondes were supposed to have more fun."

Tai laughed as Matt twitched.

"Honestly," Izzy sighed, before looking towards the three kids. "Why don't you three introduce yourselves?"

"Alright, I'll go first. I'm Davis!" Davis said grinning. "And that's DemiVeemon! I like playing soccer and kicking the Emperor's ass! It's nice to meet you all."

"Wow, he's like a mini version of Tai," Joe noted.

This time Matt snorted as Tai glared.

"Calm down," Sora said, before turning to Yolei warmly. "Please tell me your name, my name is Sora Takenouchi."

"Oh! Um, well my name's Miyako, but please just call me Yolei, I honestly prefer it. My partner, who is still sleeping by the way, is Poromon. I um, I like um, well never mind. So yeah, er hi!"

She said this very quickly before the room fell silent. Matt scoffed at her discomfort, but Sora silenced him with a glare.

Iori took this as his cue to stand up. He did so quickly and bowed to the older Chosen.

"My name is Iori Hida and my partner is Upamon. I like tending to my Bonsai Tree and practicing Kendo. It is a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Very formal; I like it," Joe muttered to Tai, making him snort.

"Relax, Iori," Tai said, lounging back. "We're all friends here, no need to bow."

"It's only proper to show respect towards your seniors," Iori countered in a quiet but determined voice.

"Alright then," Izzy said, manoeuvring his laptop so everyone could see the screen. "Now that's out of the way, let's get down to business. I bet you're probably wondering why I brought you all here."

"Not really," Matt answered.

"You already told us," Mimi agreed, barely holding back a grin.

"Well we're wondering!" Kari protested, gesturing to herself and the others.

"I've found a way to tap into the gateway between our world and the digital world," Izzy explained, typing on his laptop. "Because of this we can now access the digital world from any computer with internet access. There is only one problem..."

A large red screen appeared on the screen.

"We can't actually open the gate."

"Wait, so we can't actually go?" Davis clarified. "Then why drag us here? I mean this place is cool and all, but I thought we were going to the digital world!"

"You must have a reason," Tk guessed. "You wouldn't have brought us all here otherwise."

"Correct," Izzy said, before holding out a hand towards the three newest children. "Would any of you mind lending me your digivice?"

Iori obediently handed over his yellow digivice, which Izzy pointed towards the screen. There was a beep from the digivice and the screen changed from red to green.

"Ah-ha! I knew it!" Izzy said triumphantly. "The newest digivices can open the gates."

"Whoa!"

The older kids all leant in.

"That's incredible," Mimi muttered.

"So we can actually go back?" Joe said.

Tai just grinned as Matt folded his arms.

"It seems we are going after all!" Tai cheered, hoisting himself up with his good arm.

"File Island, here we come," Izzy agreed, handing Iori his digivice back. "Is everybody ready to go now?"

There was a plethora of nods from the Chosen, who all stood up, ready to go. Sora steadied her breathing, before nodding as well.

"Excellent," Izzy said, pointing his digivice at the screen. "Open!"

His laptop screen emitted a powerful light, which covered over everyone in the room.

"I hope you guys recognise where we come out!" Izzy yelled out as the light began to envelop them. "It took me ages to find it!"

And with that they all vanished; leaving the trolley car empty.

* * *

Hiroaki Ishida sighed in annoyance as he sat at his desk, a dial tone emitting from the phone at his ear. To be called into work on a Saturday was always a pain, but to be called in on a Saturday just to organise some meetings and calls for his superior was on a whole new level.

The sheer haplessness of it all was what got to him. When he actually got to do some honest-to-gods reporting things could even be fun and interesting. But when he was stuck waiting around for other people to get off their asses and do their jobs, his job was nothing but tedious.

Although it wasn't like he had a choice. His boss was far more insistent that usual that he come in today and he needed the overtime.

At least Yamato was out catching up with Takeru. Ever since he had started his own garage band, that boy had gotten a bit of an attitude. Maybe it came with the hair? If Natsuko had seen it she would have scolded the boy until Mt Fuji itself crumbled. Then she would have blamed him for allowing the boy to do it and kicked him out of the house.

He almost chuckled.

The door to his office opened suddenly to allow in a familiar face.

"Hiroaki?!"

"Jeremiah?!"

His former cameraman recovered first.

"You forced to work overtime as well?" he asked, walking in and depositing a small mountain of files onto the desk.

"Yeah, typical isn't it? Er, those aren't for me are they?"

"Ha-ha, they can be if you want."

"Then I think I'm fine; this asshole still hasn't picked up his phone."

With a final groan, Hiroaki gave up, put the phone down and held his head in his hands.

"I was really hoping to get to see my son today," he muttered bitterly.

"Ouch," Jeremiah winced, beginning to file away the papers he'd brought in. "Takeru, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's been nearly two years since Natsuko let me see him," Hiroaki said. "All this monster business, I think she blames me."

"Don't give me that crap," Jeremiah interrupted. "I'm miserable enough having to work on a Saturday without hearing your problems."

Hiroaki chuckled.

"Alright then, let's talk about your problems. Getting married yet?"

"Oh fuck off."

"Been seeing each other for how many years now?"

"Alright, alright, I concede. Your life sucks more than mine, happy?"

"I'm never happy," Hiroaki responded grinning.

The door opened again and immediately the two men made sure to look like they were working hard.

"Jeremiah? Hiroaki?" Yuki looked flabbergasted. "You guys are here as well?"

"Yuki?!"

The two men quickly lost all pretence they were working hard.

"You're here as well?" Jeremiah asked.

"No I'm at home, wise guy," Yuki responded, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, don't bite my head off."

"What have they got you doing?" Hiroaki inquired.

"Being a glorified secretary," Yuki answered, walking over and sitting on the desk. "Making me run errands and set up stupid meetings. I'm not needed anywhere for the next few minutes anyway. I take it you two aren't much better off?"

"Filing."

"Phone calling."

"Great, all we need is Charlie and the whole gang will be back together," Yuki stated, folding her arms.

"Lucky bastard," Jeremiah and Hiroaki both said.

"Don't start that again."

"He left for a different station," Jeremiah reiterated. "Got promoted and had his salary doubled. Bet he isn't working weekends."

"No he's getting other losers to work the weekends for him," Hiroaki muttered.

"Ha. Ha," Jeremiah responded.

"It does seem strange though, doesn't it?" Yuki pondered out loud. "The three of us all in different departments having to work overtime on the same day."

"Same hour," Jeremiah agreed.

"The same room," Hiroaki said, suddenly dead serious.

There was silence. The other two stared wide-eyed.

"Y-You don't think this was planned?"

"I mean it's odd," Jeremiah conceded. "But not exactly conspiracy worthy-"

The doors opened for a third time.

"If that's Charlie, I-"

It wasn't Charlie.

Five men in black suits slowly filed in, with one particularly tall man in the lead. The three of them backed away, uncomfortably aware there was nowhere to go.

The man reached into his inner coat pocket and withdrew a strange symbol which none of them had seen before.

"Hiroaki Ishida, Jeremiah Oshiro and Yuki Sato. On the authority of the Japanese Government you are to come with us."

"Why should we go anywhere with you?" Hiroaki shot back, standing up.

"Because we are acting on behalf of your country, and have only your best interests at heart."

"Somehow I doubt that," Jeremiah muttered.

"Whether you want to or not is irrelevant. We have the authority and the means to engineer this situation. You will come with us."

Reluctantly, the three of them put up their hands.

* * *

There was a flash of light and the next thing Kari knew she was standing on a beach. The sun was beating down from a cloudless sky onto the almost white sands below. A cooling breeze ushered in from the sparkling ocean, lifting her hair and tickling the back of her neck. The place could have been mistaken as a tropical paradise if it wasn't for the cliffs not too far away, upon which a dense jungle clearly stood.

And above the jungle, looming over the beach like a nosy parent, stood a huge mountain that reached up into the sky. Its peak was completely obscured by a sea of white clouds drifting just below it. Kari couldn't help a sudden shiver that crept through her legs and up her spine. Almost like something was watching them from above the clouds...

A sudden gasp from behind made her swivel around. She turned towards the ocean only to come face to face with something a little unexpected.

"What's with the phone booths?" Yolei asked, looking at the line of booths that went along the beach. "Did somebody build them? And someone help me wake up Hawkmon!"

"Ow, my head..." the rookie groaned. "Did you drop me, Miss Yolei?"

"Er, yeah... sorry," she said. "Are you ok? You're not ill or anything?"

"No I think I'll manage."

"Wow, what a nice place, huh Davis?" Veemon asked, looking along the beach.

"Yeah, but what's with these phone booths?" his partner wondered. "Do they work?"

"I can't help but doubt it," Iori responded. "Digimon don't exactly strike me as the type."

The older children smiled wistfully in remembrance as they looked at the familiar scene. Although a couple did take some cautious looks at the water.

"Try calling on them," Matt suggested to the newer kids, expertly hiding his grin. "Maybe you could order us a pizza?"

"Don't bother," Tk said quickly. "They just talk nonsense, you can't really contact anyone on them."

"I thought they were destroyed?" Sora remembered. "Shellmon wasn't it?"

"Well the digital world did get reconfigured," Izzy suggested, shrugging.

"So they came back," Mimi realised.

"Just when you thought you had the digital world figured out," Joe joked. "But seriously we should probably get off the beach before we're attacked."

"Relax Joe, Shellmon is long gone now," Agumon reassured the young man.

"Yeah, but something worse might be in his place!"

"I feel useless without Gabumon," Matt muttered, eyeing the water now with clear distrust.

Meanwhile the newer kids were just confused.

"What are they talking about?" Yolei wondered, looking confusedly between the older Chosen and the phone booths. "Was there a battle here or something?"

"I feel like I haven't dressed appropriately for the beach," Iori said, pulling at his collar. "It's a little hot."

"Just take it off, no one's going to care," Davis advised.

"I'm not wearing an undershirt."

"So?"

"Come on everyone!" Tai called out, getting the group going. "We're going to Primary Village first, it's not that far from here!"

"Would have been nicer than the giant serpent we got," Matt muttered, walking next to Tai. "Can't believe you woke it up."

"Hey, I didn't know we lit the campfire on his tail!"

The two continued to bicker as they led the group onwards. It wasn't too long a walk, but the group began to fall into a familiar pace nevertheless. Matt and Tai joked and bickered at the front, whilst Izzy and Joe talked right behind them. Sora walked on her own, taking in the familiar sights around them and Mimi hung back to talk to the new kids.

"So Yolei, how are you finding the whole 'Digidestined' thing?" she asked the younger girl.

"Well- I think it's pretty cool so far," Yolei answered honestly. "I mean I love having Poromon around, he really brightens up my day."

"I know how you feel; I still miss having Palmon around."

"I'm sure you two will be reunited someday."

"That's so sweet of you to say. I just hope she missed me as much as I missed her."

"I'm sure Miss Mimi's partner is in a similar state; eagerly awaiting their reunion," Hawkmon said reassuringly.

"You're both too kind!"

Behind them, Tk was walking next to Kari and explaining what happened with the phone booths.

"So Tai and Agumon had him beaten and we ran before he decided to come back."

"It sounded pretty brutal," Kari frowned, looking ahead towards her brother. "They really didn't hold back"

"He didn't have a choice. We were defenceless at the time. Though it was so long ago now, it feels like a dream."

"Don't worry, Tk," Patamon said. "If Shellmon tries something again, this time I'll take him down myself."

"I don't doubt it," Tk chuckled.

Davis and Iori were taking up the rear, with Davis desperately trying to strike up a conversation with the quieter boy.

"So… you like any sports?"

"I said earlier that I like Kendo," Iori reminded him. "That's the only sport I really do."

"You don't even watch Soccer?"

"No."

"Oh."

Davis bit his bottom lip, wishing desperately to increase his pace and talk to Kari just ahead of him. Unfortunately, Tk had gotten ahead of him and now the two were talking animatedly about something or other. He grit his teeth and tried to ignore it.

"Why do you like Kendo so much?"

"Why do you like Soccer?" Iori countered, almost making Davis try and pull out his hair.

Up ahead, Kari burst out laughing at something Tk said. That marked the end of his patience. Davis stormed forwards and began inserting himself into their conversation.

"Humans are weird," Veemon noted, walking at the very back of the group.

"Tell me about it," Armadillomon agreed.

It wasn't long before the forests around them cleared and soon gave way to large building blocks and giant toys the size of buildings. The hard grass-covered ground quickly turned into a softer, green material throughout the whole village.

"I remember this!" Tk declared, almost paralysed with nostalgia. "It's like a giant trampoline. You can bounce really high and there's no chance of getting hurt."

"I still wouldn't recommend it," Matt added.

"I'm sure it's fine, you're just grumpy," Tai said. "Look, you can see the eggs from here!"

Less than a field's length away from them were the small colourful dots of the DigiEggs. They littered the ground of Primary Village as far as the eye could see. Gatomon stiffened, her ears twitching.

"This place looks like a giant nursery," Yolei said.

"Well that's because it is," Izzy explained. "There are quite a few less eggs than when we were last here. So hopefully that means the digital world has successfully repopulated itself."

"Guys, we have trouble!" Gatomon declared, immediately jumping in front of everyone.

"What is it?!" Kari asked. "Should we digivolve?"

The champion's ears twitched.

"It's coming closer, really fast!"

From behind one of the buildings, a blur darted out towards the group. There was the sharp noise of metal against a sheath and a burst of orange light as Kari felt something blow right past her.

BanchoLeomon stood there with his sword point at WarGreymon's throat. The other mega's claws were themselves brushing against his chest, ready to gut him at a moment's notice. The group was silent, stunned at the showdown happening right before them.

The two megas held themselves in stalemate for a further moment before BanchoLeomon's eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh, it's you, Great One," he said, lowering his sword. "You all startled me there."

" _We_ scared _you_?" Yolei stammered out, looking up at the ten foot tall mega.

WarGreymon similarly lowered his claws and carefully shook hands with BanchoLeomon.

"It's good to see you as well," WarGreymon said sincerely. "I was worried looking after all these babies would make you lose your edge."

"Ha! If anything I'm more on guard than ever!" the lion digimon cried out jovially. "It's fantastic to see all of you again. And you've brought some new faces I see."

"Yes, these are Davis, Yolei and Iori as well as their partners Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the mega bowed.

"L-likewise," Yolei stammered.

"You're one pretty tough dude," Davis said admiringly, looking up at Primary Village's guardian. "You look awesome."

"Why thank you!"

"Sir, we need the latest batch of meat!" a new voice yelled. "The babies are hungry!"

An Elecmon soon came into view and paused at the crowd of people there.

"Hu-humans?!"

"Ah, Elecmon," BanchoLeomon greeted. "I want you to meet the legendary Digidestined as well as the Gre-"

WarGreymon elbowed the other mega and gave him a look.

"Er, just the Digidestined."

"Wow, that's so cool!" the Elecmon cried out. "The Digidestined!"

"Huh, don't you remember us Elecmon?" Tk wondered, pointing to himself and Patamon as BanchoLeomon stiffened. "It's us, Tk and Patamon. We fought and played tug of war together."

"Yeah Elecmon," Patamon chirped. "It's been awhile, huh?"

"Sorry, I don't remember any of that," Elecmon said, confused. "You've probably got me confused with someone else."

"What? No I'm sure-"

BanchoLeomon coughed loudly.

"Elecmon," he spoke. "Why don't you go ask Palmon for the meat order? I'll probably be a bit busy."

"Sure. It was nice to meet all of you!"

Elecmon then quickly ran off back into Primary Village.

"Hey, did he say Palmon?!" Mimi asked. "As in our Palmon?!"

BanchoLeomon blinked.

"Why yes," he said casually. "Your partner set up a farm not too far from here. It helped make it easier to look after all the baby digimon."

"Where is she?!" Mimi demanded, making the mega take a step back. "I need to see her!"

"I'm sure she'll be pleased to see you as well," BanchoLeomon said, before pointing. "If you just follow Elecmon, he'll gladly take you there."

"Thank you!" Mimi said, rushing past them all and after the rookie.

"That was pretty easy," Kari commented.

"I hope finding the others will be that easy," Gatomon agreed.

"Do you know if any of our other partners are on the island?" Izzy immediately questioned BanchoLeomon.

"Not that I'm aware of. As far as I'm aware, Palmon is the only one who chose to stay on File Island."

"Wait, what about Elecmon?!" Tk demanded. "Why didn't he remember us?"

"Not all digimon are reborn with their memories intact," BanchoLeomon explained. "Some even take a different path of digivolution and become completely different physically. This has been happening more since Apocalymon absorbed practically everyone. It's sad, but all that remains of the Elecmon you knew is his desire to protect these baby digimon."

"Considering he was captured by Machinedramon," WarGreymon said softly. "It might be better that he's forgotten what happened."

Tk's breath hitched for a moment and he covered his mouth. Iori noticed his hands were shaking.

"Tk..." Matt moved in.

"I'm fine," the younger blonde moved away. "There's nothing wrong."

Knowing better than to pry further as these things often took time; WarGreymon quickly tried to change the subject.

"We should probably get to the real reason we're here," WarGreymon decided, looking towards Izzy.

"There are a few things we want to investigate while we're here," Izzy explained. "If there's a connection between the Emperor's Dark Rings and the Black Gears, find out if anyone knows more about that symbol and finally we need to find one of Gennai's old holographic communication devices."

"I myself haven't heard from Gennai in some time," BanchoLeomon mentioned. "But I don't understand. What's this about an Emperor and a symbol?"

Izzy took out the pair of glasses and showed it to the mega.

"The Emperor is a human who is trying to take over the Digital World," he explained. "These were his glasses and they have a symbol on them which we think might be relevant to his motives."

"Hmm, it's familiar but I can't really place what it means," BanchoLeomon said after a few moments. "If you head to File City, someone there might have some more information on it. Plenty of them have retained their memories from before they were deleted."

"File City?" Joe blinked in astonishment. "There's a city on File Island now?"

"Indeed," BanchoLeomon replied with a tinge of pride. "In these times of peace, our society here on this island has flourished."

Deep inside WarGreymon, Tai felt his heart lift at this news. He couldn't help but feel pride at the fact that these digimon were creating a life where they could co-exist in peace. That ultimately, Daemon truly had been wrong from the start and it didn't have to simply be the strongest who ruled. For the first time in a long while, Tai felt like he had truly won.

"I suggest we should split up," Izzy declared. "If some of us go to Infinity Mountain for the Black Gears, whilst others go to File City and finally another group can go look for ways to contact Gennai."

"I want to go to the city!" Davis said, putting his hand up excitedly.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Izzy decided. "If Tk could show the newer kids around File Island as well as gather the information. As you all have your partners, they might be more inclined to trust you."

"I don't see the problem with that," Yolei said. "It could be a good opportunity to see their culture."

"That's true," Kari acquiesced. "But what about you guys? You only have WarGreymon between you."

"Any digimon could easily flatten us," Joe pointed out.

"I'm sorry," BanchoLeomon spoke solemnly. "I would love to escort you, but it's my sworn duty to take care of these baby digimon. I'm afraid even here there are opportunistic digimon who wouldn't hesitate to obtain some easy data."

"Don't worry, I've already considered that," Izzy responded. "Kari, I'll need you and Gatomon to help search for Gennai's communication devices. I figured with Gatomon's tracking skills she would be able to find something out of place fairly easily."

Gatomon smirked and folded her arms at his praise.

"Wait, why can't you do it?" Kari asked.

"I'll be needed to have a look on top of Infinity Mountain," Izzy explained. "I don't need you to do anything technical just make a note if you find one and bring it back if you can. Whoever else wants to head up to Infinity Mountain with me and WarGreymon is perfectly welcome."

"Tempting," Joe replied sarcastically. "But I'd rather stay at more or less sea-level. I don't want to fall off the mountain again."

"You're as brave as ever Joe," Matt smirked.

"Say that to me again when you've fallen off a mountain, shorty."

"I'm only short compared to you!"

"Alright!" WarGreymon interrupted. "So that's me, Izzy and Sora going up to Infinity Mountain. Matt, Joe and Kari can go looking for a way to contact Gennai, and finally Tk, Davis, Yolei and Iori will go to File City. Is that clear?"

"Actually, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather stay here at Primary Village for a bit," Sora spoke up softly. "There's something I need to look for."

"Um, alright then," WarGreymon said, a little taken aback. "Sora can stay here."

He gave her a final glance, before turning towards the others.

"Alright then, let's all meet back here in a couple of hours. Good luck everyone. C'mon Izzy, let's go!"

"Wait a second. Just how are we going to get up a mountain in only two ho-URS?" Izzy screamed as WarGreymon yanked him into the air and rocketed off towards the huge mountain in the distance.

* * *

Mimi followed the little rookie digimon through the woods, a single-minded determination running through her. Her mind was moving almost as fast as her body. What would she say? What would she do? Does she still have my hat?

Will she remember me?

After a few minutes of constant jogging the trees parted and the farm came into sight. It looked almost disappointingly like a regular farm on Earth, except instead of farmers tilling the fields it was Floramon, all of them busy picking out what looked like large chunks of meat from the ground.

Over by a small hut, stood a Tyrannomon with a large wooden crate made of tree-trunks strapped around its back. Elecmon was standing beside it, talking to someone just behind the dinosaur digimon's legs. Mimi moved around, anxiously trying to get a look at whoever was behind the digimon.

She stopped running.

"Mimi?" a stunned Palmon asked, a pink hat prettily tied behind her back.

* * *

 **A/N: There's the latest chapter, so please tell me what you think. How was the interaction done between the Chosen? What did you like what didn't you like? Please feel free to share any thoughts or criticisms in the reviews or by PM'ing me. Either or, they're all appreciated.  
**

 **Like I promised, I'll address the previous chapter's questions in this Chapter as well.**

Questions about the Previous Chapter

 **SandyHeart:** Thank you! I'm glad you liked their interaction. I am borrowing heavily from some elements of Tamers as you've noticed, and I'm mixing it in with the adventure gang. In many ways they will act like the tamers did, although in what ways you'll have to wait and see.

 **lala32903:** The Egg of Kindness may be involved as well, although to what extent exactly I haven't fully decided.

 **merry1995:** I haven't made any plans to have the tamers from season 3 appear in this story. Mostly because it's already pretty cluttered with characters at the moment. Adding the tamers and doing them justice as their own characters isn't something I have planned for this story yet. If it happens at all they would need their own story to come in.

 **Mrguy22594:** Now that's an interesting question. I first thought of this crossover when I read the V-Tamers manga. I wondered to myself what adventure would have been like if it was the same Tai. As time went on, I kept imagining different scenarios about what would happen and how cool it would be. I looked up on fanfiction for anything, since the idea just wouldn't leave me alone, but there was nothing really notable. In fact there wasn't much fanfiction about V-Tamers at all! Therefore I decided to create it myself to not only practice my writing skills but also to have fun getting back into the fandom while doing so. And I'm really glad I did! I hope that answered your question.

 **6SkullAngel:** To answer your question, Myotismon had the power to subtly affect how his target thought and acted. I implied that MetalMeramon actually spoke out against Myotismon and in retaliation, the vampire mutilated him so he couldn't speak and then used his fear and anger to control him. When Lilymon used her Flower Wreath, after a struggle, it removed the grip he had over MetalMeramon as that's its affect. Once his mind was clear, partly because of guilt and partly because of spite he decided to save Sora since it was hit fault she was in danger. Sorry if that wasn't clear, but if I remember correctly that's the gist of why it happened. Myotismon is not a good boss. I'm also glad you liked the more involved older Chosen. I feel that's something Adventure 02 really mucked up. So I wanted them to stay relevant. As for everything being connected... maybe...

 **windwarrior234:** Sure. Mari is the oldest at 19, with Hideto, Sigma and Neo being 18. Then Rei is 16, roughly the same age as Tai. Also I'm glad you're intrigued by everything so far. I hope this chapter wasn't too boring for you.

 **dsgundam00:** It's a good question, but they won't get any alternate digivolutions because of the Control Spires. Mostly because they're already powerful enough and it would be pretty confusing to remember them all. I'm glad you like everything so far!

 **sidestory:** Interactions between the Chosen is something I'm trying to do. To show that they are still friends despite everything. Your flashbacks idea is a good one, one that I planned to use later onwards in particular to the characters. You're actually pretty close with what some of those scenes were going to involve as well! As for Sora and Biyomon, well I can't spoil anything... You have a point that Davis is the least screwed up of them all and he was nearly eaten. Lol, I've never thought of it like that. I haven't made plans to introduce the tamers, so I hope that doesn't make you too annoyed. I've outlined the reasons why in my reply to merry1995. If you want a more detailed explanation then just PM me and I'll be happy to give one. The Crests are pretty open to interpretation, so maybe you could be right with that one. Thanks for your lovely long review! I loved reading it!

 **Something Dictionary Related:** If by other tamers you mean Neo and his group, yes. If you mean season 3 tamers then I refer you to my answer to merry1995's question. I can't answer any of your other questions without spoiling things, so I just hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Ok, now the latest chapter's questions

 **Noh Bodei:** Happy Birthday! Hope you enjoyed your present!

 **TheBrokenSpear:** All the older digidestined will be taking a more active role. But it will be gradual of course. Have to give the new kids a chance to grow you see.

 **6SkullAngel:** Yes, I will be mixing things up. Don't worry, no spoils.

 **SnakeGear:** There is more than just romantic and family love. There is love for your friends and, for some people, a love of all living things. While Sora represents love for her family and friends, I find Cody better represents the love for all living things. Learning exactly what makes him suited to his crest will be a part of his journey as well. I apologise if that wasn't made clear enough. Glad you liked the chapter!

 **SoulAuron:** Glad you liked it and I'm sure you'll be happy to know that pretty much everything you said you hated won't happen. I won't say anymore to avoid spoiling, but I do have plans to have all that change. Also, ultra level?! Damn that actually sounds better. Wish I had known that earlier. It makes much more sense than Super-Ultimate. Loved reading your long review!

 **Vigatus:** Probably not very well.

 **Captain Nice Hardrive:** Tai did leave an impression. WarGreymon isn't something easily forgotten. I'm glad you seem to be liking the story for the moment. I'm trying to focus on the characters for now before the plot really gets going and the action ramps up. I always love reading your long insightful reviews. It's nice to get your opinions on everything.

 **Buzz Line:** Yes, guest reviews take a seriously long time to come through compared to others. Days quite often. I'm glad you liked the the characters and their interactions so far, that's what I've been focusing on for the moment. There are plenty of differences between Ken and Neo, both in their attitudes, threat level and all-round demeanour. I've tried to convey their differences subtly for the moment, but they will be made explicit when they meet up. I'm glad the story seems to be meeting your expectations for the moment. Can't wait to read your next review.

 **Shinku no Yami:** Wow, I honestly don't know what to say. But I guess I'll give it a go anyway. That was a very lovely and insightful review. I'm so happy you loved my last story, what you have said is truly touching. It's rare I get such glowing praise and one that tells me so much about what it is you liked about the story. About how Tai and Mimi as the two best characters and how that made you sort of ship them. That's the sort of thing authors love to hear. Thank you very much for the warm feeling I got when I read your review. (I read it more than once.) I hope you come to enjoy this story as much as you did Teacher of All Things. Thank you.

 **If I missed anyone's questions, please point it out to me and I'll try and respond as soon as possible. Also a sincere thank you to everyone who reviewed favourited or followed the story.  
**

 **This is getting a little long now, so I'll stop here.**

 **Next update 24th August.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Chapter 7: Into the Depths

**A/N: Here's the latest chapter! Hope you all enjoy it! Things are heating up now!  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.**

* * *

 **Into the Depths  
**

Izzy had finally stopped screaming about halfway up the mountain. WarGreymon was secretly very impressed, he had a very impressive set of lungs for someone who never really exercised.

Tai had spent quite a bit of time trying to goad Izzy into playing soccer with him, but it had never worked. It also didn't help that the other soccer player's had been complete jerks about it, making fun of Izzy for being a nerd. He had nearly gotten kicked off the team for fighting that day...

Right now, Izzy was on his knees panting for breath. They had just reached the top of the mountain and as soon as WarGreymon had put him down, the boy had collapsed.

"You idiot, Yagami!"

Deep inside WarGreymon, Tai winced. Izzy must have been really angry. He could deal with that no problem; anything to take his mind off of Sora.

"Hey, we're here aren't we?" he argued back.

"You could have at least given me some warning," Izzy said, slowly standing up. "Just you wait. I'll get you back for this, I promise you. Tai, you won't even see it coming."

WarGreymon swallowed nervously and tried to ignore the shiver that went up his spine. Perhaps he had been a little bit impatient in bringing Izzy up here so quickly?

"Interesting, the air seems to be exactly the same up here as it was below," Izzy noted. "At least, I haven't passed out or suffered any other side effects from a sudden change in pressure."

"Um... cool?"

Izzy rolled his eyes and mumbled something about muscle-head buffoons.

"We should investigate for any sort of connection to the Black Gears," Izzy continued.

WarGreymon nodded, suddenly serious.

"So what are we looking for exactly?"

"I don't know, a temple, ancient ruins or inscriptions maybe. Anything unusual would do really."

"Well what about that?" WarGreymon pointed.

Izzy gaped at the sight of the temple, or what was left of it. Strewn across the entire mountaintop were large chunks of masonry, bits of columns, remains of large towers and pieces of statues. Judging just form the sheer amount of debris, the temple must have been gigantic once. The remains of just the pillars were far larger than any other equivalent structure Izzy had ever seen.

Though it was sad to say, however grand it had been once, it was nothing but rubble now.

"It must have been Devimon," WarGreymon said, surveying the sight with annoyance. "When he grew gigantic remember? That would have destroyed the temple."

The scholar inside Izzy mourned the loss of such an inspirational piece of architecture; at the sheer amount of knowledge that had been lost from such a callous action. He breathed slowly and tried not to swear.

"Stay in this form for now, WarGreymon," Izzy said. "We still need to search this place for any clues. There might still be something here. If the Emperor or whoever acquired anything from here there might stil be evidence."

"Yeah, yeah," WarGreymon responded, walking through the rubble. "I'll keep an eye out for anything odd."

The two split up to better explore the ruins. WarGreymon lifted large blocks of stone off of the floor, looking for anything interesting. As he continued inwards the mega soon came to the very centre of where the temple used to reside.

He hopped down through the rubble and onto a polished marble floor. WarGreymon could practically see his face in it, it was so shiny. He walked forwards, looking for anything suspicious when something made him stop.

Statues.

Dozens of them.

All untouched and frozen in varying positions. Some looked like they were cowering, others fighting with snarls on their eerily lifelike faces. WarGreymon strode in-between the statues, recognising the digimon some of them represented.

Then he turned and came face to face with Daemon.

The statue was even taller than WarGreymon and remained freakishly true to the demon lord's image. Curled horns rising above his head and a too-large rictus grin stretching across his face. Two claw-like massive wings stretched behind the statue, reaching from above its head down to its ankles.

Only the eyes were wrong. Stone could not ever capture the insanity and bloodlust Tai had seen in that digimon's soul. Even now, this creature's philosophy could be felt throughout the digital world, moulding its denizens and changing them.

Gorillamon rose to the forefront of WarGreymon's mind. He had held so much promise, then the next thing they knew the champion's voice was issuing forth from Apocalymon's mouth.

'Tai, let it go,' Agumon spoke sadly.

'I can't, Agumon,' Tai said honestly. 'But that's alright; it's my burden to bear.'

With an almost heroic resolve WarGreymon turned away from the statue to view the rest of the plaza. The statues were all arranged in certain ways, like they were two armies clashing. Many of the statues had been destroyed by Devimon, their names and faces now lost forever to time.

It was almost disconcerting that there was a WarGreymon statue as well, although he couldn't tell whose side it had been on.

Standing at exactly the same height as him, they could have practically been twins had one not been made of stone and missing the crest on its back. The mega observed his brother for another moment before continuing on.

This place was beginning to freak him out and the longer he spent with the statues the more obvious it became. He kept thinking he saw movement in the corner of his eye, only to turn and see nothing.

More than once he considered levelling the entire place.

Had Izzy not been there as well he probably would have.

Past the statues lay the remains of some stairs, upon which a small bit of wall still stood. It was inscribed with scraps of digital code; which had been partly worn away by the elements in the last few years.

'That could be useful to Izzy,' Agumon noted.

With an almost terrifying casualness, WarGreymon bent down and tore the section of wall away from its foundation. He hoisted the several ton rock over his head like it weighed no more than a paperweight and took to the air.

Tai couldn't help but smile a little. There were some great things about being a mega that he never got tired of, the super strength and flight being some of the best parts. It was like being a superhero.

'Wow, you're easily impressed,' Agumon said jovially, and Tai could feel the smile as he boasted. 'I could have done that as Greymon; WarGreymon is overkill.'

'More like sat on it,' Tai replied. 'There's no way you'd have picked it up with those stubby little arms of yours.'

'My arms aren't stubby! They're muscular and manly!'

'They are now you're merged with me!'

"WarGreymon!" Izzy yelled from below.

The mega quickly landed next to the boy, causing him to back away.

"What are you carrying?"

Careful not to damage it, WarGreymon slowly lowered the stone next to Izzy.

"It has digicode written on it," the mega explained. "I was hoping this could be useful to you."

"Well, it could be," Izzy said, examining the rock. "But it looks as if it's been cut off in places, I hope that wasn't you."

WarGreymon rubbed his stomach nervously.

"No."

Izzy fixed the mega with a sceptical look.

"I have no idea how you expect us to get it back. I'll have to study it another time when I have my laptop with me. Anyway," he continued. "I wanted you to know that I found something. Recognise this?"

WarGreymon followed Izzy's finger to see what looked like a load of broken stone lying on the ground.

"Um..."

"Between the gaps of stone."

WarGreymon peered closer and instantly saw it. Beneath the bits of rubble and hidden almost completely lay what looked like a black fence. Small arcs of electricity silently sparked between the wires that made it up.

"A security gate," the mega recognised. "Like the ones in Etemon's pyramid?"

"I'm pretty certain," Izzy said. "Which means that, like I first suspected, there is in fact something hidden inside the mountain itself."

"You suspected that?"

"Why did you think I brought you along out of everyone else?" Izzy countered with a smirk. "Your claws would be perfect for digging."

"This isn't something I can do casually, it's tiring!" WarGreymon protested, feeling his pride take a hit. "And I'm a warrior, not some sort of... Digmon!"

Izzy just snorted, before continuing.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Without my laptop I can't find the part of the fence that is fake."

As Izzy lamented, WarGreymon strode past him without the young genius even noticing.

"We should probably just go back and try again another-"

 _Rip! Crash!_

Izzy paused in his tirade to see WarGreymon standing there with his fist straight through the security gate. Which he was now holding off the ground.

"Oh, right," Izzy said as his friend tossed the now defunct security gate away from them. "Mega."

The rubble crashed around them harmlessly.

"Nope, just good at digging."

The two just grinned at each other, before looking down the dark staircase leading into the mountain.

"Stick behind me," WarGreymon commanded, as he lit a ball of energy in his hand. "I don't want to take too many chances."

Izzy nodded.

The two silently descended down the dark staircase and into the depths of Infinity Mountain.

* * *

Kari lagged slightly behind the two older boys as they walked through one of the many forests that littered File Island. Looking for signs of Gennai hadn't been going well for the half hour they'd been trekking through the jungle. There hadn't been any indication of any sort of device that Izzy and the others had talked about and Kari was beginning to get fed up. It was like looking for a needle in a forest of haystacks and Joe and Matt weren't helpful beyond vaguely remembering where they were when they first saw Gennai.

If it hadn't been for BanchoLeomon suggesting they talk to Centarumon, they definitely would have given up trying to find anything by now.

Kari sighed.

Although she always enjoyed coming to the digital world, especially when it wasn't to fight, she was also using the opportunity in order to get some truly stunning pictures for the photography club. Miss Bui had wanted them to get some good pictures to who to each other and Kari figured now would be the best time as long as she was careful never to show any actual digimon.

She found herself stopping every now and then in order to capture a particular scene with the small camera around her neck. A drop of dew falling from a leaf as sunlight bathed the plant in a warm afterglow, symmetrical clouds framing the sun between the gaps in the jungle-like trees, or even the shadowed outlines of the two boys ahead of her caused by the lights breaking over the nearby mountain.

Kari was just infinitely glad none of the other club members would hear what the two were talking about.

"I'm surprised Gennai didn't stay in touch with BanchoLeomon," Joe commented, holding his chin. "I thought the two were pretty close."

"You try keeping in touch when you have to raise kids by yourself," Matt stated. "I know my dad lost contact with plenty of his friends when he was raising me and BanchoLeomon had to pretty much raise the entire digital world!"

"Well when you put it like that it's probably a miracle he's still sane," Joe admitted with a chuckle.

"I'm surprised you're still sane with all that studying you do. Don't know where you get the motivation, _Dr Kido_."

"Ha-ha, bringing that back?" Joe asked deadpan. "It's been months since I've been called that. I doubt anyone even remembers it."

"Oh believe me, everyone remembers that party. I still can't believe it! We're going to bring it up when you graduate. Then the whole school will know."

"Y-you wouldn't!" Joe declared, quickly losing his composure.

"Try me, doctor."

The two stopped walking to have a stare-off. Kari just walked past them.

Joe pushed his glasses up his nose and took a deep breath.

"Well then," he said calmly, making alarms go off in Matt's head. "I'll be sure to mention to the Principal exactly what it was his daughter was doing with you when you two dated."

Now it was Matt's turn to pale.

"Y-you wouldn't!"

"Try me, blondie."

The two then burst into laughter, making Kari raise an eyebrow and lower her camera.

Gatomon jumped down next to her, a move that would have startled anyone else. She had been acting as the advance scout for the group, her returning either meant they were about to be attacked or she had found something.

"It would seem Joe's found a spine," Gatomon noted, walking beside her partner. "And Matt's found a sense of humour. Everyone really seems to have grown up."

"Yeah..." Kari agreed, frowning. "But they're just so relaxed. Aren't they taking this seriously?"

"I'll admit Matt laughing at all is pretty weird," Gatomon said, looking ahead at the two boys. "But I mean compared to what we've already faced? What's a creepy forest? What is a single ultimate digimon? What is even the Emperor? If it wasn't for his damn towers he'd just be a memory right now."

Kari couldn't help but be bothered by the casual discussion of ending a child's life.

"I just don't understand why he's doing this," she said. "Why would anyone do such things to anyone?"

"The power that comes with enslaving digimon, the sheer rush that comes with making other living creatures bow before you," Gatomon explained coldly. "That's why Myotismon did things and he taught me to do it as well. If it wasn't for you and the others I'd still be in that darkness right now serving him or even worse."

The memory of that monster vampire flickered in Kari's mind. He was the first evil digimon she ever saw and he commanded an army of ghosts, separating her from her parents, with those merciless blue eyes staring right at her and wanting nothing more than her dead.

To her, even the Dark Masters couldn't compare to his evil.

"What could be worse than serving Myotismon?" Kari questioned, shivering at the memory.

"The Dark Area."

"Hey, Gatomon's back!" Matt noticed, looking towards the two.

"Did you find anything?" Joe wondered. "Centarumon was supposed to have lived around here, right?"

"He did and I believe I found his temple," Gatomon said, pointing. "There's a large ruin over that way that matched the description BanchoLeomon gave us."

"Then let's get going," Matt said, immediately starting to move. "The sooner we find Centarumon, the sooner we find Gennai-!"

"Hold on a second there," Joe said, grabbing a hold of Matt's collar. "BanchoLeomon said that he hadn't seen the guy in some time. We might be going into someone else's home."

"I doubt it," Gatomon snorted. "Who would want to live in an old ruin?"

"Centarumon said he quite liked it," Joe said, remembering his brief time with the champion in Machinedramon's city. "He said it gave it an 'authentic' feel."

"He sounds like a real weirdo," the champion said.

"Maybe, but he and Gennai seemed to know each other the best," Matt remembered. "If he can't give us a hint as to where the old man is then no one can."

"Then let's just go and see!" Kari declared, marching off with Gatomon into the forest. "Unless you two want to keep looking around for that hologram thing?"

The two boys stared after her and Gatomon walking off in surprise, before quickly following after her.

After only a few minutes of walking the trees parted and the four of them came face to face with a stone temple. It stretched several stories tall and seemed to be built into the side of one of the smaller mountains on the island. It looked ancient, completely out of place amongst the jungle they had just been treading through.

It was laden with beautiful architecture. Pictures of various digimon, both human-like and beastly, all in a variety of poses graced the walls of the building, visible in-between layers of overgrown vines hanging down. Several arches and finely carved columns were arranged in rows across all three visible stories of the temple, before being swallowed up by a great leafy canopy far above.

"Wow," Kari breathed, taking a quick snapshot. "It looks beautiful."

"Looks eerie," Joe said, adjusting his glasses. "It also seems abandoned to me."

"We haven't even gone inside yet," Matt argued, taking charge. "Let's not waste time looking around. We just need to find Centarumon and that's it."

He began walking up towards the entrance of the temple, a large open archway big enough for a Greymon to walk through without trouble. Unlike the almost pristine, though overgrown outside, the inside seemed poorly maintained. Cracks and pieces of brickwork were missing from the walls and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. The room was pretty big but was so barren as to be almost criminal.

"So now what?" Joe wondered aloud, looking down one of the narrow passageways that led deeper into the temple. "Which way leads to Centarumon?"

"Maybe he has a doorbell somewhere?" Matt suggested, only half-joking.

"Something isn't right about this place," Gatomon said surreptitiously as she carefully examined the room.

"What's the matter?" Kari asked, idly brushing some hair off her clothes. "It doesn't look that bad."

"Hmm," the champion muttered, looking around.

"Splitting up would be a bad idea, Matt," Joe said. "Gatomon is really our only defence. Just because we're on File Island doesn't mean we're not safe."

"You don't have to remind me!" Matt replied defensively, glaring. "I remember very well how dangerous this place is, especially without Gabumon around."

"I didn't mean anything by it," Joe said calmly.

"I-I know," he replied, breathing out.

"Um guys? I think we should be careful," Kari said, watching her partner press her ear to the ground. "Gatomon thinks something is up."

"Why, what's the problem?" Matt asked, still feeling pinpricks of anger. "That this was a waste of time? Because that's how I'm beginning to feel."

"We haven't even explored the temple yet," Kari protested weakly. "There might be something..."

"Well I think it's pretty obvious that Centarumon isn't here," Matt answered. "If he was, he'd have definitely heard us by now!"

"Shit, Dokugumon!" Gatomon shouted in horror. "There's loads of them coming from that way!"

She pointed towards one of the dark passageways. The three humans stood there in shock for a single moment. Then, slowly, they could hear the tell-tale scuttling of many approaching legs.

"RUN!" Kari yelled and all four of them took off down the opposite passageway.

They had barely begun their flight when the first few Dokugumon entered the room. Howling and snarling, dozens of feral spider eyes locked onto the retreating Chosen and they continued their pursuit.

The three Chosen children ran on deeper into the labyrinth under the mountain.

* * *

Tk walked at the head of the group, guiding the three newest Chosen and their partners towards where File City supposedly was. He had to admit he had his doubts about this whole 'symbol' thing, but the others were counting on him to at least try and find something out.

Yolei was at the back, talking to Iori loudly enough for two people. Which was good since he wasn't responding. Those two were keeping to themselves for now, Davis on the other hand...

"So that digimon that appeared was BanchoLeomon?" Davis questioned. "He looked really strong."

"Yes, he helped us on our first adventure," Tk said politely. "And he is very strong. He's a mega-level digimon, that's almost the highest level there is."

"Wow, so can you guys reach that level?"

"Not yet," Patamon chirped happily. "Me and Gatomon are the only ones who haven't. But I'm sure we will eventually."

"That means Tai can reach that level then?" Davis asked.

"Yeah, you saw it today. That was WarGreymon."

Davis thought back to that tall warrior who had suddenly appeared among them. To be honest he'd been a little too scared to say anything. Those two megas glaring at each other, their weapons out had caused him to freeze up, unable to even think for a moment. It was like every part of him had been telling him to stay still, to not draw attention. To think Agumon, that little yellow dinosaur, could become so powerful...

"I can't wait to be that strong," Veemon commented, thinking back to that moment with his hands clenched.

Davis gave Veemon a look, before a grin struck his face.

"You will Veemon," he declared. "Then the Emperor won't stand a chance!"

Veemon's face mirrored his partner's.

"Yeah!"

"Digivolve Veemon to... WarVeemon!"

"Yeah!" Veemon yelled, charging forwards with Davis right behind him. "Vee-Punch!"

Tk stared in shock as the two went running further ahead. He caught a glimpse of Veemon punching a nearby tree while Davis cheered him on.

"Davis wait! You don't know where you're going!" he called after the boy.

Of course, Davis took no notice and Tk sighed. It at least beat Davis pestering him about their past adventures. It was nice that someone took an interest, but still Davis could be a little too childish at times.

"Those two are very strange," Patamon said.

"I guess WarGreymon freaked them out a little," Tk admitted. "I know he did me."

The remembered his brother, as MetalGarurumon, snarling at WarGreymon as they squared off. It had been scary at first, until he and Kari calmed them down anyway.

'Does it really do that to you?' Tk wondered, observing Davis and Veemon laughing together. 'Does becoming a mega really make you that bloodthirsty?'

He tried to shake away his doubts. They shouldn't be focusing on such things. Tai and Agumon were in complete control, they would rather die than attack anybody.

He should just focus on their task and hope they were still going in the right direction. BanchoLeomon had been rather specific with his directions and he was sure they should be getting close to File City.

The Emperor's glasses, which he was keeping in his pocket, were an unfamiliar weight that kept him on edge. And it didn't help that he was certain he'd seen that symbol somewhere before, somewhere other than Myotismon.

In his honest opinion; the sooner they finished this, the sooner they could get back to actively opposing the Emperor. Even now that maniac was probably conquering more of the digital world and they were practically doing nothing to stop him. Innocent digimon were suffering right now and they weren't doing anything to help!

"Er, Earth to Tk?" Yolei asked, poking him hard in the side. "Or... this place to Tk?"

"Huh?"

"Are we getting close or what?" she asked, folding her arms. "It's been ages and we're getting tired."

"You might be getting tired," Davis corrected, running back with Veemon in tow. "But me and Veemon are just getting started!"

Tk swore he saw a muscle below Yolei's eye twitch.

"Well _I_ am tired," Yolei stated through grit teeth. "And so is Cody. If you ever thought about anyone other than yourself, maybe you'd notice."

"Hey, don't I think about others plenty!"

"Can you please not fight?" Iori asked, catching up. "We need to stay together while we're in the digital world. Fighting won't help anyone."

Looking behind him, Tk could see the younger boy clearly struggling to keep up, sweat clearly visible on his forehead. It was easy to forget that Iori, despite how maturely he could act, was only nine years old and their pace was beginning to wear him down. Tk himself had plenty of memories of exhaustion from having to walk with people much older and taller than him.

He couldn't help but sympathise a little. Then memories of the young boy's earlier stubbornness soon quelled that.

"It's not much further," Tk said quickly, before Yolei and Davis could continue their argument. "I don't know about you guys but I can't wait to see this! I have never seen an actual digimon city before."

"You haven't?" Yolei looked shocked. "But you've been here before."

"There weren't any actual cities in the digital world," Patamon explained. "Just villages really."

'Except one,' Tk thought, banishing the memories of Machinedramon before they could surface.

"Wow, so do you think there might be food there?" Veemon asked. "I'm really hungry."

"Definitely," Armadillomon answered. "If it's anything like a human city there'll be plenty."

"I hope they have some herbal remedies," Hawkmon said, clutching at his head. "My head is killing me."

"As long as we don't have to pay for anything," Davis said. "I don't have any money on me."

"What's money?" Veemon asked his partner.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Veemon."

"It's not like digimon would use the same money as us anyway," Yolei rationalised.

"Hey is that a road?" Patamon suddenly piped up, taking off from Tk's hat.

They had come to a large gap in the trees. Separated from the rest of the forest by a large road made of stone. A large white arrow had been painted on to the road, with the words 'File City' written under it.

"It's just up the road," Tk realised, looking up to the top of a nearby hill where the road ran.

"Come on then!" Davis yelled, quickly charging up the hill with a sudden burst of energy. "Let's go see!"

He ran all the way to the top and shouted.

"Look at this!"

As they cleared the crest of the hill, they all stopped and stared at File City.

Hidden in the valley was the largest digital settlement Tk had ever seen. Numerous buildings made of wood and stone stretched upwards several stories tall, along with huge buildings that stretched outwards and looked like large aircraft hangers.

Hundreds of different building styles stood next to each other, from modern buildings that wouldn't have looked out of place in Odaiba to smaller huts made out of mud and clay. To strange structures Tk could only describe as giant termite mounds to large cacti that shot high into the sky. All of them were in different sizes, styles and even colours. It was a cornucopia of variety, far beyond any human city Tk had even seen.

Countless different hand-built dwellings and business's stretched out into the horizon, covering the land in an array of shining colours. Several large structures towered above the rest, looking almost like giant flat mushrooms. Then Tk saw a Kuwagamon flying far above land on top of one of those structures and realised what they were: massive landing pads.

It was awe-inspiring.

He wasn't sure how long he stared, taking in more details of the city and each instant realising something new. The others seemed similarly amazed, but it was Davis who recovered first.

With an excited cry he and Veemon charged down the hill towards the city with all the recklessness of his age. After exchanging a few amused glances, the others followed after him at a more sedate pace.

The group quickly reunited in the middle of the road at what looked like an intersection. The road had lengthened and looked more modern, and was now separated more like one from Earth. It was, however, far wider than any city road Tk had ever seen. The pavements had many digimon, only a small percentage that he could name, walking along and chatting and laughing like they were... human.

"Move out of the way!" a loud voice cried, making the Chosen jump.

They quickly ran to the pavement as a massive Greymon strolled through the centre of the enlarged road. On his back, the champion was carrying a great number of in-training digimon. They were all strapped on and laughing with every stride the Greymon made.

They all stared after the sight in awe.

'The road is for larger digimon,' a part of Tk's brain realised, the part that wasn't currently dribbling out of his ears.

"It's a school bus!" Davis suddenly shouted with a laugh.

Tk couldn't help the sudden smile that broke out onto his face.

"You're right," he agreed.

"This is unreal," Yolei murmured, looking up as several large flying digimon landed far above them.

"I never thought I would see something like this," Iori agreed quietly.

It was everything Tk had hoped for and more. Without the Dark Masters, without Myotismon or Etemon or Devimon trying to destroy everything, innocent digimon could accomplish inspiring things.

A sudden grumble then interrupted everyone's thoughts. Veemon looked down at his stomach, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"I'm still hungry, you know."

"Me too buddy," Davis agreed. "Let's go get something! There's got to be something, like a restaurant or a street vendor around here."

"I need to find Hawkmon something for his headache," Yolei piped up as well.

"No Miss Yolei, I can handle it," Hawkmon insisted, looking a little unsteady on his feet.

"Yeah, sure you can," Yolei said. "I'm getting you something and that's final."

"I'm not hungry," Iori stated. "And I think it would be better if we didn't split up."

"Oh relax, Cody," Armadillomon said. "We're in a city on File Island. This is probably the safest place in the digital world."

"The safest place in a world inhabited by giant monsters that breathe fire."

"Hey, sometimes in life you have to take what you can get," Armadillomon replied.

"Guys, have you forgotten that we have a mission?" Tk said rather forcefully. "The others are counting on us to figure out what this symbol means."

"Yeah right," Yolei snorted.

"I'd rather just fight the Emperor," Davis said, hands behind his head. "Then we can find out whoever is controlling him. Who needs to worry about some symbols? Come on Veemon, let's go get something to eat!"

"Finally!"

With that the two began to walk away.

"Sorry, Tk," Yolei apologised, and she sounded almost pitying. "But Hawkmon's really suffering here and I really don't feel like this symbol thing is all that important."

Tk watched stunned as Yolei, followed by an apologetic looking Hawkmon, also took off in another direction.

"Hey, Yolei! Davis!" he called after them fruitlessly, reaching out as if he could grab them.

'They just ignored me,' he thought, frustration building up within him.

He resisted the urge to stamp his foot in anger. It was just so unfair! Tai never had this problem! Hell, not even Kari had this problem! They all listened to Kari without any hint of complaint. Not for the first time, he wished she was here with them right now. It was so unfair

It was just him and Iori now.

It was more than a little awkward.

"Well that was rude of them," Armadillomon noted.

"They could have at least told us where to meet up with them again," Patamon said.

"So you're not going to run off either?" Tk asked Iori, who shook his head.

"No. I think its best we find out whatever we can about this symbol," Iori stated. "If the others think that it's best, then they're probably right."

"What do you think?"

"I think the same."

Tk couldn't help but feel Iori wasn't being entirely truthful. Before he could say anything about it, a new voice interrupted him.

"Excuse me, but are you two humans?"

Tk and Iori looked down at what looked like a small rabbit digimon. It had three small horns on its head, was roughly the same colour as chocolate and had highlights of pink in it's massive ears.

"Yes, we are," Tk answered a little cautiously.

"Wow!" the digimon exclaimed, eyes wide looking up at them. "That's so cool, I've never seen a human before! My name is Lopmon and it's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Um, that's great," Tk said politely.

"Can you help us?" Iori asked. "There's a strange symbol we wish to know the meaning of."

"A symbol?"

Lopmon examined the mark on the Emperor's glasses curiously.

"Sorry, I don't know of it," she apologised, her ears drooping. "But I do know of someone who might do."

"That would be great," Tk said smiling kindly at the young digimon. "Could you take us to them?"

The rookie's massive ears perked up as a massive smile lit up her face.

"Yep, yep, yep! Just follow me!"

With that, the excited little rookie spun around on a single foot and began to walk down the street towards the centre of the city, practically bouncing with excitement on every footstep. The two humans and digimon gave each other a concerned look before following after her.

* * *

The only sound that could be heard was made by their footsteps against the wet rock. WarGreymon's small ball of energy lit up nothing but the wet and slimy walls of the passageway they were still descending down.

Izzy's legs were beginning to ache and he was seriously considering asking WarGreymon to take a break. Only his sheer curiosity for what could lie inside Infinity Mountain kept him going. It was more than likely that Devimon himself made this journey as well and whatever it was he found at the bottom allowed him to take control of the Black Gears. Was it possible that the Emperor also took this path at some point? Or some other digimon?

He then bumped into WarGreymon's back. The mega had stopped and was gazing intensely into the darkness ahead. As if he could see something that Izzy couldn't.

"Something's here."

A shiver crept down Izzy's spine.

"Could you possibly be more specific?" he hissed. "What are we dealing with here? Rookie, champion, mega, what?!"

"It's no Shellmon, if that's what you're asking."

Izzy could see WarGreymon's tensing muscles, even in the dim light. Anything that could give a mega pause for thought wasn't something a human should get involved with.

"I'll head back up," Izzy decided, fear giving his legs new strength. "I don't want to get in your way-"

 _Shellmon. Phone booths beside the beach, untouched. Temple destroyed._

Izzy stopped in mid-sentence.

"Fuck."

"What's wrong?" WarGreymon asked, still tense.

"The temple... was destroyed."

"Yeah so? Devimon did it right?"

"But the Phone Booths were still intact when we came back. So why was the temple destroyed?"

WarGreymon's eyes widened.

"Trying to cover their tracks..." he realised.

Izzy nodded, his legs were shaking now, and his own mortality in this situation was suddenly becoming very apparent.

"And now you said something else is here."

"A trap?"

"Possibly."

Izzy's eyes were glued up the stairs, past the light and into the pitch-black darkness both above and below.

"Up above," WarGreymon began. "I had a feeling of being watched, but I could never spot whoever it was."

That definitely didn't bode well.

"We're surrounded then," Izzy realised. "They're herding us down here."

He eyes the shadows up the stairs behind them as if a monster would leap out of the pitch black. Izzy cursed his human limitations.

"There's always a way out," WarGreymon stated resolutely. "We just have to find it. Come on, I want to see what they're so keen to show us."

Something in the mega's words gave Izzy courage and without another doubt he followed WarGreymon further in.

The stairs soon levelled out and the staircase became a passageway. One big enough for a digimon three times WarGreymon's size to fit through without issue. As they continued a dull blue light began to permeate the walls.

WarGreymon extinguished his energy ball as the light lead them onwards and out onto a bridge over a vast expanse.

It was a cave!

A vast cavern, almost as wide and tall as the mountain, stretched out on every side from the passageway. Faint blue lights lit up the walls and ceiling of the enormous empty space. Far below lay a perpetual darkness, which went down far deeper than even the roots of the great mountain.

Hell, this entire place was so large Izzy could have almost believed they were outside.

"Izzy," WarGreymon breathed. "Look."

Rising from the darkness below was a massive spiralling cylinder that met with the bridge further ahead. At the meeting point was a smooth sphere upon which a shadowed figure stood.

The two slowly walked along the bridge, coming closer to the sphere. Izzy could just about make out the indentations for a doorway when the figure moved. It jumped down onto the bridge in front of them, barring their way.

"I've never seen that digimon before," Izzy murmured.

"Grademon," WarGreymon said. "An ultimate level, but its armour is supposed to be gold. This one's isn't."

Instead the digimon's armour was pitch black with red highlights in places. Its blue cape billowed dramatically behind it as it readied its twin swords.

"An ultimate shouldn't be any trouble for you," Izzy rationalised, trying not to look at the awfully sharp blades.

"An ordinary one maybe, this one is strange. I also have to protect you," WarGreymon pointed out. "Izzy, I want you to run back. As soon as the fight begins I need you to do that for me."

"Er, WarGreymon..."

Far behind them, at the entrance to the chamber were two more Grademon. They flanked the doorway out of here, swords drawn.

"On second thought, just run forwards. Try to get into the sphere."

"Are you sure you can take on all three of them?" Izzy whispered, priming himself to run.

WarGreymon stood at his full height and readied his claws. His armour seemed to glow a faint orange as he collected the power within himself. On his back, the Crest of Courage shone brightly.

"I'm certain."

The Grademon in front of them slowly began to walk forwards, its swords scraping the ground and leaving gashes in their wake. Looking back, Izzy saw two more approaching from behind.

"Trust me Izzy," WarGreymon said, his voice steady enough to make rocks jealous. "Run towards the centre. No matter what happens just run."

Izzy knew better than to doubt the Victory Tamer.

"You'd better not let me die; I still have to get you back for earlier."

WarGreymon just chuckled and tried to ignore the strange feelings in his chest. Something about these digimon was calling out to him, but not in a way he could comprehend.

Before he could think, the Grademon in front of them gave a feral roar and was gone in a blur. There were explosions all around them and Izzy's vision was covered in dust. He ran forwards, the sounds of thunder and clashing metal echoing all around him.

Right now there was nothing he could do except hope WarGreymon proved victorious.

* * *

The Dokugumon in front of them never saw it coming.

"Lightning paw!"

Gatomon's blow struck the off-guard champion right in the face, knocking it out cold and on it's back. Kari would have cheered if she actually had any air left in her lungs.

"Keep running!" Gatomon cried out, sprinting ahead of the humans as the horde continued to chase after them.

"Through here!" Matt shouted, leading them down a side-passage. "Confuse them!"

But it was no use. Their pursuers were single-minded and relentless, and no matter how many twists and turns they ran down it was never enough. They only needed a few seconds for Gatomon to digivolve into Angewomon and for them to stand a fighting chance.

But it was impossible.

The four of them continued their dance with the Dokugumon, but could never get too far ahead. The digimon knew the place far too well for them to get away for long and as they went deeper and deeper, more and more web was appearing.

Kari panted hard, her chest burning from the strain of having to sprint for so long. They needed an idea and needed one fast. Matt seemed to be alright and Gatomon wasn't even winded, but Joe looked just as bad as she must have.

They couldn't keep this up for much longer. Soon exhaustion would claim them and they'd be spider food. There had to be something they could do!

'What would Tai do? What would Tai do?!' her mind desperately asked itself, only drawing a blank.

The walls were too solid for Gatomon to break before the horde caught them, the Dokugumon knew the labyrinth better than they did and there wasn't enough time to digivolve into Angewomon before they got ripped apart.

It was a trap, one they had stumbled into that probably wasn't even for them. The Chosen, the Digidestined who had saved two worlds, beaten by a bunch of stupid spiders. By accident.

 _I won't-_

She'd never see her brother again. Her mom, her dad, even their freaking cat.

 _-I can't-_

Her friends at school, Davis and Tk. The Photography club, Miss Bui.

 _-give up._

It was like everything was moving in slow motion. The way they had been running... leading the Dokugumon in circles. They had missed something in their blind panic, a way to escape.

 _A crack just big enough for a human to squeeze through._

"Follow me!" she cried out, only half-aware of what she was saying.

Adrenaline kept her going, slowly overtaking Matt and Joe in their flight. Easily desperate enough to follow whatever hope they could get, the two boys the bright light that shot ahead of them.

'We have to circle back around,' Kari realised, her mind working far faster than it ever had before. 'But it has to be a wide enough circle they can't cut us off!'

It was as if she had remembered every detail of the maze, every chip and crack in the stone at every intersection.

Left, left, right, left, right and there!

It was an opening, one just big enough for a human to slide through. Kari ducked and squeezed and was through in an instant. Gatomon was next, not even hampered. Joe came next with a bit more effort, then finally Matt slid through in a dive.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon yelled.

The stone far above cracked and splintered. Hundreds of tonnes of rock collapsed upon the opening, sealing it off completely from the horde of Dokugumon.

"Oh... shit..." Joe panted, lying down with his hands on his chest, trying to take in desperate breaths.

"What... the hell... was that?!" Matt finally gasped.

"Well done, Kari!" Gatomon cheered, bounding up to her partner, who was similarly curled up on the floor like Joe. "I knew you'd find us a way out!"

Kari was so tired she was fighting to keep her eyes open. She felt so sleepy, all of her energy had been drained out of her. The cold stone floor was suddenly so comfortable.

Matt was the first to recover himself enough to slowly take in their surroundings. The room was dim, most of the light coming from single source and prevented him from seeing the walls too clearly. Beyond that it was Spartan, like most rooms in digital temples, except for the altar.

"Guys?" Matt panted. "Do you... see that?"

Kari opened her eyes blearily as she heard Joe swear.

Suspended in a single sunbeam was an altar. Sitting on top of that altar was a Digimental.

The Digimental of Hope.

A shadowed figure behind the altar moved and Kari's blood ran cold. It prowled slowly around the structure, the sound of chains clanking as it did so. The sunlight illuminated the great dark creature from behind, revealing large golden horns.

As well as two bright blue eyes.

Eyes that ignored Gatomon and focused directly on Kari.

* * *

 **A/N: Cliffhangers! Who doesn't like cliffhangers?! But seriously, Next chapter there will be plenty of action. The pace might seem a bit slow right now, but I'm hoping to make it all pay off with the next chapter. There is a reason Mimi wasn't shown in this chapter as well as Hiroaki and Hypnos.  
**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you thought. Comments, criticisms, what you liked, what you didn't. Don't be shy!**

Questions:

 **PauloPt90:** I can't answer that yet without spoiling anything, sorry.

 **SnakeGear:** You're very perceptive. The old Chosen's attitudes towards the new Chosen was pretty flippant. They're not exactly at the comfortable stage on interacting yet.

 **Ultimateblack:** Yes, Hawkmon did indeed drink a few alcoholic drinks. Quite a lot actually. There will be an explanation for Cody wanting to be referred to as Iori. I've already hinted as to a possible reason in a previous chapter. The Birdramon was in fact the one from the village they saved. After they left, Ken came back and well... they didn't put up much of a fight the second tme. It's difficult writing scenes where everyone is involved, simply because there are so many characters, each with their own personalities to consider. But yes, warping takes alot out of a 'mon. WarGreymon's going to realise that very soon...

 **6SkullAngel:** Well Upamon was guessing what was bothering his partner. I see what you mean reading it back though, it doesn't flow very well. Maybe I'll add a bit later. And Kari and Tk are now twelve, not fourteen. Four years have passed since their first adventure, in which they were eight. I hope that cleared that up.

 **HUGE thanks to everyone who has enjoyed reading the story so far! If I missed a question you asked, feel free to PM me or just ask it louder.  
**

 **Next chapter will be on 7th September!**

 **ALSO, good news for everyone who reads The Mad Professor. I'll be updating that story within the next week!**

 **Hope you all enjoyed! Until then, take care!  
**


	9. Chapter 8: One Step Further

**A/N: Here we go! Brand new chapter! Hope you all enjoy the goodness!  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon**

* * *

 **One Step Further**

The Grademon all charged and WarGreymon had but an instant to analyse the situation. One coming from the front and two from the back. One mega vs three ultimates who were all fast enough to not be spotted by him earlier.

He had to protect Izzy, a powerless human, and there was a possibility that the entire cavern could collapse if he got careless with his attacks. He was out of practice fighting actual threats, tired from maintaining this form for so long and the cave wasn't well-lit so his opponents had decent camouflage.

Well he always appreciated a challenge.

WarGreymon darted forwards past Izzy and stabbed the first charging Grademon in the chest hard enough for the digimon to bend inwards from the blow. Dust was then blown everywhere as WarGreymon slammed the Grademon directly through the bridge.

"Run, Izzy!" he commanded, before spinning around to deal with the two coming from behind.

He shot past Izzy once more and attacked the two charging ultimates.

Their first clash blew away all the dust as his claws grappled with four separate blades.

The two Grademon disengaged and leapt back, causing WarGreymon to lunge forwards with claws at the ready. One Grademon surged forwards to block and was forced backwards, whilst the other attacked.

A feint.

Cursing internally, WarGreymon turned and aimed one of his armoured gauntlets to bat away his opponent's swords; only for one of the blades to slide through his armour like it wasn't even there.

'Shit!' WarGreymon thought as he quickly backed off, ripping the blade out as he did so.

Those blades were incredibly sharp! Which meant his armour was essentially useless in this fight. Fortunately, his gauntlet wasn't too damaged, so he could still use his claws. He would just have to ignore the pain.

Who were these guys? It shouldn't be that easy for an ultimate to hurt a mega.

Seeing his weakness, the two Grademon surged forwards and attacked. The mega was hard-pressed to dodge all four blades coming at him at once. Jabs and slashes and attempts to grapple with his claws were all avoided, but he couldn't keep it up.

"Terra Force!"

He sent a small blast straight into the ground below the two, kicking up more dust and staggering the two ultimates.

WarGreymon took the chance to slam his claw straight into one and then shot into the air closely pursued by the other. Catching a blade in each claw, WarGreymon slammed his horned head straight into the Grademon's, sending it back down into the abyss below.

Izzy was still running towards the sphere. Before he could register anything more than that, the first two Grademon were back and attacking again.

'They're fast!' Agumon thought.

'No wonder they stayed hidden from us,' Tai noted.

The entire cavern seemed to shake as the sounds of metal clashing rang from end to end. His claws met against the ultimate's swords over and over, but he couldn't make any headway.

'Wait a second, where's the third one?!' Tai thought, risking a glance downwards.

Far below, he could see the faint blur of one of his opponents heading straight for Izzy, who was running away at an almost painfully slow pace.

"Brave Tornado!" WarGreymon cried out, spinning like a top and knocking his two opponents away.

Like lightning, he sped downwards towards the third Grademon who was closing in on Izzy. WarGreymon's attack clipped the ultimate, sending him hurtling away and into the nearby cavern wall.

Just as the mega cancelled his attack the other two Grademon were upon him again and he was back to dodging for his life.

One Grademon's swords lit up and it shot forwards far faster than before.

"Cross Blade!" it cried, swinging it's swords in a wide arc.

WarGreymon simply smirked and flew above the strike. The ultimate had only an instant to realise its mistake before the mega's interlocked fists slammed down hard onto the creature's head.

The Grademon tumbled down uncontrollably into the abyss below as the other two circled WarGreymon cautiously.

They were more careful than their brother; one was always watching him whilst the other checked on Izzy's progress in an almost anxious manner.

WarGreymon couldn't stop the smirk spreading across his face. It was clear his opponents were getting more desperate and that ignited a strange primal thrill deep within him.

They were determined to stop Izzy from reaching the sphere; which could only mean there was something important inside.

Something they didn't want seen.

Then there was the fact that these digimon were far too strong to be working for the Emperor and they weren't wearing any sort of Dark Ring.

Which begged the question: who are they working for? Were they somehow being controlled by the Black Gears?

It didn't matter, WarGreymon decided as he put up his claws once more. He would worry about all that later, for now he just had to keep them distracted.

Gritting his teeth, the mega charged forwards and the battle raged on.

Meanwhile, Izzy could see none of this going on as he ran for his life across the bridge. He didn't dare slow down, didn't dare stop even for a second less it ended in his death. His surroundings blurred as he focused on moving forwards as fast as possible.

All around him he could hear the clashing sounds of metal against metal, the sounds of steel reverberating across the cavern. The bridge shuddered violently and he nearly lost his balance for a moment.

Breathing hard, Izzy wished to himself there was some sort of guard rail to keep him from toppling over the edge. He had glanced over the side a couple of times and it had taken everything within him not to go weak at the knees.

'Don't think about it, don't think about it,' he chanted to himself over and over again as he finally approached the sphere.

His hands groped desperately at its smooth surface, looking for some sort of indent or clue as to what it was. There were small little cuts in the metal, incredibly precise and small. They could only be symbols, words!

But it was simply too dark. The eerie blue glow from the walls barely let him see his hand in front of his face let alone the writing on the wall.

"Come on, come on," Izzy muttered, fishing through his pockets for materials he could use.

His digivice, some string, a marker pen, why didn't he bring his laptop?! What was he an idiot?

 _CLANG!_

Izzy winced and ducked through sheer reflex. That had sounded far too close! Tai must be having some real trouble.

Cursing his own powerlessness he kept examining the sphere. He grasped his digivice and used it as a small light.

It was absolutely covered in digicode!

Unfortunately, without his laptop, he had no way to translate it.

"Calm down, Izzy, calm down," he continued, still groping for anything else he could use. "You've been in far worse situations that this, just focus and you'll get out of this… somehow."

The Grademon had been standing on top, maybe he had to climb up? Looking up, Izzy quickly dismissed it as impossible. The sphere was simply too smooth and a single mistake would send him hurtling down into the depths below.

'Think, think, this has something to do with the Black Gears, right? How would someone like Devimon have used it?'

There was an explosion on the far end of the cavern and dirt fell onto Izzy's shoulders.

Maybe he should just run back to the other end and let Tai fight these digimon without having to worry about him.

No, he had to solve this! If freaking Devimon could figure out how to use this thing then he certainly could!

Face set in determination, Izzy examined the digicode carefully. It bore some similarities to the code in Andromon's factory (from what little he could remember), but there was far more he didn't recognise at all.

In the digital world, code has power even when merely written down. When he rubbed out a single character of code the whole factory shut down, so what character would he need to activate this device, assuming he wanted it activated at all?

It- it couldn't be that simple could it?

Would Devimon have done that?

The memory of the huge champion standing over all of them shot through Izzy's mind. He shut out the outside world to examine the memory more carefully…

Once he did, he almost slapped himself in the face.

'The mark on the Emperor's glasses… it was on Devimon's chest!' Izzy realised, pulling out his marker pen.

He quickly found a suitably sized gap in the code and using the light of his digivice copied the mark to the best of his ability.

Izzy grinned as the sphere began to hum and a portion of the metal slid inwards, revealing a doorway.

The Crest of Knowledge shone brightly on his chest and Izzy strode confidently inside the sphere and the secret door shut behind him.

Far below, gears began to turn…

* * *

The large digimon observed them all with a keen eye. Behind her, Matt and Joe were standing up defiantly, but unwilling to get any closer. In front, Gatomon stood with her claws out, ready to attack at the slightest twitch.

Looking around there was no place to run to. There were no doors or stairs, only a single beam of light coming in from a small hole in the ceiling. One that was far too small to crawl through.

The strange digimon hadn't made a single movement. It simply stared down at Kari with light green eyes, saying nothing.

"Are you going to attack us?" Kari asked cautiously.

"I do not believe so," it replied in a smooth tone.

"Are you guarding the Digimental?" Matt questioned, walking forwards cautiously.

"I am the Keeper of the Digimental of Hope, Oryxmon," it answered, eyes still focused on Kari. "Do you believe yourself worthy of the Digimental of Hope?"

"My friend, Tk, would be," Kari answered. "He has the Crest of Hope."

"Unless this is meant for someone else," Matt said snidely. "A new one we haven't met yet."

"I was not asking about your friends," the digimon continued. "I was asking you, child."

"Me?" Kari pointed to herself. "It's not my Crest, it belongs to Tk."

Oryxmon didn't seem impressed by this logic and slowly walked closer. Her feet made no noise as they touched the ground. Was it just Kari's imagination or could she faintly hear bells tingling?

"Hey, stay back," Gatomon warned, baring her claws and teeth. "One more step towards Kari and I'll dice you like an onion."

"I doubt it," Oryxmon said dismissively, but stopped nevertheless. "Why do you feel the Digimental of Hope should belong to your friend?"

"Because it's not my Crest," Kari repeated. "Tk has the Crest of Hope, I have the Crest of Light."

Oryxmon slowly began to circle Kari. Gatomon pressed herself up to her partner, turning to keep her eyes on the digimon. Matt and Joe backed away from her as well, knowing they would be little help right now.

"What difference does that make?" Oryxmon inquired, green eyes boring into Kari's own. "Do the owners of the other Digimentals also bear their respective Crests?"

"Well… no," she admitted. "But there wasn't anyone else to pick them up. We were in danger, someone had to do it!"

"Are you not in danger now?" Oryxmon suddenly leaned in, face inches away from Kari's. "Do you fear that you cannot do it?"

"Hey!" Matt interrupted. "Quit it with the interrogation!"

"If you want to fight just go ahead and say so," Gatomon snarled, pushing Kari away from Oryxmon. "I'll take you on any day of the week!"

"Guys!" Joe yelled, startling everyone. "Now everyone calm down. I'm sure Oryxmon doesn't mean to scare us."

"She's beginning to really piss me off," Gatomon said, glaring at the larger digimon.

"Well we don't have to act so jittery," Joe stated, folding his arms. "We're not in any danger."

Oryxmon snorted.

"And why do you presume that, human?"

"Because you're not really here, are you?" Joe realised, walking right up to Oryxmon. "You're a ghost."

Kari's eyes immediately searched over the stunned Oryxmon, looking for any sign or clue that Joe was right. And as the creature prowled around, Kari saw it. She could see the floor straight through its feet when she concentrated!

That's why it kept staring her in the eyes and getting right up close. It was so she wouldn't notice!

"I see…" Oryxmon said, impressed. "It would seem the Digidestined do live up to their expectations."

"Expectations?" Matt wondered. "You've heard of us, then? Did Gennai put you up to this?"

"Gennai? No, I am simply watching over this Digimental until a Chosen human comes and picks it up. I am not as defenceless as you might think."

"So why do you think I'm the one who can use it?" Kari asked sceptically.

"Not many have been able to find this room," Oryxmon answered her. "You refused to give up and never stopped believing there was a way out of your situation. Your hope kept you going."

"I don't understand."

"When you use your Crest of Light how do you feel?"

"I feel… like I'm in touch with the world," Kari said eventually. "Like I can feel the goodness within everyone's hearts for a brief moment. Like I'm seeing everyone for the first time."

"What do you expect your friend feels when he uses his Crest? Or your other friends feel when they use their Digimentals?"

Kari put her hand to her chin as she thought. What did feelings have to do with everything?

"Look, you're not making any sense," Matt interrupted. "We just came here to know what happened to Centarumon and Gennai, not to get the Digimental."

"I know that Centarumon left this temple a couple of years ago," Oryxmon said. "He was in the company of an old man and they left in a great hurry."

"Gennai," Matt realised. "That's got to be him!"

"So Gennai left with Centarumon?" Joe thought out loud. "I wonder why? Another enemy to deal with?"

"It doesn't matter," Matt decided. "We've got what we came for. Now we're just going to leave, come back later and get Tk to move it."

"Through the Dokugumon?" Oryxmon asked.

"No," Matt smirked. "Through the roof. That light is coming from outside so we must be able to break our way through. Then Angewomon can fly us out."

"Matt, there could be hundreds of tonnes of solid rock above us," Joe pointed out. "If we're not careful it could become unstable and crush us."

"Then we'll just fight out way back through the Dokugumon," Matt said. "If Gatomon turns into Angewomon it will be easy."

"Not in what's essentially a maze," Joe responded. "Sure she'll beat any she sees but what if one sneaks up on us? She would have to defend and look after all three of us as well!"

"It's our only shot, Joe!"

Kari's eyes widened.

"No, no it's not," she said happily. "There is another shot, a better shot!"

"Kari, what do you mean?" Joe asked.

"If you have another idea, now is the time to tell us," Matt insisted.

Kari ignored him and marched right up to the Digimental and grabbed a hold of it. If she was right, they were saved. If not… well they'd go with the second plan.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Kari," Gatomon warned.

"Trust me, Gatomon," Kari smiled at her partner. "I've figured it out."

It was all about the virtues. That's what Oryxmon was saying. You don't necessarily have to have the most of that virtue you just have to be able to tap into that part of yourself!

Whatever Gatomon would digivolve into would have an ability that would let them get out of here, Oryxmon had been hinting at it.

Kari smiled down, hoped to the high heavens and pulled.

The Digimental came loose.

A bright yellow light shot out of the hole and Kari felt the Digimental vanish in her hands. Roaring wind shot past her and deafened everyone in the chamber. The force was so great that the walls began to crack and splinter, yet everyone remained unharmed.

They simply stared at the pillar of yellow energy shooting into the sky.

It was like fire from the sun was pouring through her soul. On her belt her digivice began to grow and change.

"Gatomon Armour digivolve to…"

Kari could barely hear it over the roar, but she laughed all the same as she recognised the shape her partner was forming.

"Oryxmon!" her partner roared to the heavens as the walls behind them came tumbling down, revealing themselves to the gathering Dokugumon horde.

The two Oryxmon turned as one to face the oncoming mass of digimon. They walked forwards and the sounds of bells chiming bounced against the walls.

The Dokugumon charged at the same time the two Oryxmon lifted their heads.

" _Mystic Bell!_ "

The near-silent chiming became a mighty gong. Each beat seemed to knock over the oncoming spiders, forcing the next wave to scramble over only to suffer the same fate. Over and over again until their movements began to slow and stopped altogether.

The noise slowly tapered down from great booming gongs, to shaking tolls to, finally a quiet tinkling chime.

It was over in less than a minute. The entire horde of Dokugumon lay there in front of them unconscious.

"I warned you I wasn't defenceless," the Ghost of an Oryxmon said, smiling. "Most other digimon would be at a disadvantage in this state. I, on the other hand, am very different."

"They're all asleep," Matt muttered in disbelief. "Your attack put them all to sleep."

"Yes," the Oryxmon that was Gatomon said. "The sound bounced off the walls and down the maze. It might have actually gotten all of them."

"Wow, Oryxmon!" Kari cried out, hugging her partner around the neck. "That was amazing!"

"I can't wait to tell the others," Joe joked. "They'll be pretty surprised as well."

There was a sudden rumble. The temple floor shook and cracks began to appear in the ceiling. After a few short seconds it stopped.

"W-What was that?" Kari asked, voice shaking a little.

"I don't know…" the Ghost Oryxmon answered, no less disturbed.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Matt decided. "We didn't go through all that just to get caved in on."

* * *

The walk was more than a little uncomfortable. Lopmon skipped onwards up ahead like a carefree child; obviously ignorant to the awkward air between the two boys.

Tk had initially hoped that it would be a short walk towards wherever this digimon lived and that would distract him from having to walk with Iori. However nearly ten minutes of listening to nothing but Lopmon's cheerful humming was beginning to wear thin on his patience.

The urge to say something was intense. Maybe he should apologise for being so harsh before and try to clear the air with the younger boy. Tk frowned in thought; he just couldn't think of anything to say.

'What about all the stuff he wanted to say after Iori plunged off that cliff edge?' a cynical part of his mind reminded him. 'There had been plenty of apologies then.'

"Er, Iori," Tk began a little hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"I know this might not be the best time, but about the whole Parrotmon thing-" he said, trying to think of what to say.

"It's fine, I forgive you," Iori claimed, his tone not changing.

"Y-you- wait, what?" Tk said, flabbergasted.

"My Grandfather has always told me to be respectful of other people's opinions, even if you don't agree with them," the younger boy said. "Of course, I was right in the end."

"Look just because Parrotmon was being controlled doesn't mean you were right to let him go that first time," Tk responded hotly. "For all we knew he could have been attacking them for years!"

"Then we should have made sure to know that for certain before ending his life!"

"Well we couldn't! And what if it killed more innocents after we let it go free? How would you feel then?!"

"I thought you were trying to apologise," Iori said.

"I wasn't trying to apologise for being wrong!" Tk breathed, slowly calming himself down.

Next to the two, Patamon and Armadillomon exchanged some worried glances.

"I was trying to apologise for my behaviour," Tk huffed. "But just forget it, ok?"

"What-"

"Just forget it," Tk said gruffly, looking outwards at the rest of the city.

Iori, who was looking up towards Tk, turned his head back down to the ground. The group continued on in awkward silence against the noisy backdrop of the city.

"So you're Digidestined, right?" Lopmon spoke up, looking back at them happily and trying to ignore the argument she just heard.

"Yes," Tk replied a little too quickly. "That's er… that's us."

"Wow! So you can digivolve whenever you want then?"

"Pretty much," Patamon said, shrugging as best he could. "I've gone all the way to ultimate before."

"Ultimate?" the rookie's eyes seemed to sparkle. "That's so cool! What about you?"

Armadillomon blinked as Lopmon got right in his face. The brown rookie was somehow walking backwards without slowing her pace at all.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you," Lopmon said, practically vibrating in place and lifting up her massive ears. "How strong are you?"

"Er, well I'm new you see," he admitted. "Cody here is my partner and we only met a few days ago."

"So you haven't digivolved yet?"

"Well that's not technically true," Armadillomon said, thinking. "I have digivolved once before into Pteramon."

Iori frowned.

"Who?" Lopmon blinked, completely unaware. "I don't think I've ever heard of that digimon before. Actually I don't think I know what you are either.

"I'm Armadillomon, pleased to meet ya."

"Likewise!" Lopmon squeaked. "So you've made it to champion then in only a few days, wow-"

"It doesn't really matter," Tk interrupted. "There's much more to a partnership than just digivolving."

"Like what?" Lopmon asked innocently. "Why else would you do it if you didn't want to get stronger? I'd love to be a Champion, or maybe even an Ultimate!"

Tk noticed Iori watching him intently.

"Having a partner is more than just being able to digivolve," Patamon agreed. "It's also about overcoming evil, putting yourself at risk and saving both worlds."

"It's like having a best friend, if not even deeper," Tk explained. "Someone who truly understands you, down to your very soul."

Patamon nodded.

"Plus he feeds me."

"Patamon!"

"What? You do. Well your mom does anyway. You need to try harder, Tk."

"True," Tk said smiling up at his partner. "But it's not something you can fully understand by being told. You have to experience it for yourself first."

"Hmm," Lopmon said, spinning around casually as they came up to an ornate looking building. "I don't know, that sounds kind of weird. Anyway, we're here!"

Tk and Iori looked up at the place. It was a white marbled building with steps that lead upwards towards the front entrance.

"Come on," Lopmon cheered, hopping up the stairs. "I'll introduce you to Jijimon!"

The little rookie burst through the doors and into the building.

"Jijimon!" she cried out, running across the stone floor. "Jijimon!"

Across the large room, digimon briefly turned to look at the little rookie before returning to whatever it was they were doing.

Nervously, Tk and Iori along with their partners, entered the building and followed after Lopmon at a more sedate pace.

It reminded Tk of an old European bank he had once visited when he was much younger. The ceiling lay several stories above them and the walls were covered in strange carvings that he couldn't understand.

Massive ornate pillars, of which could be compared favourably with redwood trees in thickness, jutted up to the ceiling in an impressive work of craftsmanship.

As they crossed the polished floor all the other digimon inside, of numerous size and level, gave the humans interested glances.

Tk could only identify a small number of the digimon there, but he didn't recognise a single one over the Ultimate level.

"Jijimon!" Lopmon yelled again, piercing through his thoughts.

The rookie had run up ahead and was now conversing with someone behind one of the large pillars.

"I heard you the first time, Lopmon," a tired old voice replied. "Now what is it? Is that Renamon bullying you again?"

"No-no-no," she chanted, just as the Chosen turned the corner. "It's humans! The Digidestined are here!"

Tk and Iori entered at just the moment Jijimon turned to look at them. For an instant, Tk thought he was looking at a small old man, but on second glance he spotted the oversized hairy feet.

A shaggy mop of white hair completely obscured the digimon's face and it was dressed in tattered rags. He was holding a large staff with a lion's paw attached to the end.

"Incredible," the old digimon murmured, moving forwards to examine the two.

"That's Jijimon?" Tk murmured.

"You have to admit, it's a fitting name," Armadillomon responded.

"Don't underestimate him because of his looks," Patamon said. "He's actually a mega level digimon."

"What?" Iori hissed.

"Ssh!" Jijimon said sternly, before leaning in to closely examine Tk and Iori.

The two stayed still as he looked them up and down, occasionally murmuring as he did so. He circled the two, still looking, before coming to a halt in front of them.

"You're definitely human, that's for sure," he concluded. "And I take it these two digimon with you are your partners?"

"That's right," Armadillomon confirmed. "I'm with the small one."

Jijimon chuckled.

"Well I am Jijimon, ex-Mayor of File City and now Grand Elder," the digimon introduced himself. "It is an honour to meet esteemed heroes such as yourselves."

"Thank you, the honour is ours," Tk replied, a little uncomfortable. "Look, the reason we're here though is to ask you about this symbol."

Tk showed the glasses to Jijimon who peered at the bat-like symbol in the centre.

"Hmm, I think I do recognise it," he said. "Come through into my office, I need to check something."

He led them up a large set of stairs and into a small office that was very similar to a regular one. Books lined the walls and neatly framed a large window that looked out into the city. Through the window, Tk could spot Infinity Mountain looming over the city in the far distance.

In the middle of the room stood a wooden desk which had many strange-looking contraptions on top, the purposes of which Tk could barely even guess at.

Jijimon shut the door and began to rummage through his numerous books. The three digimon and two humans waited in silence as he slowly pulled out a thick tome.

He laid it out on the desk and within moments had the right page open.

"Where did you find these glasses?" Jijimon asked them.

"They were being worn by a human who calls himself the Digimon Emperor," Tk explained. "He's an evil human who wants to take over the digital world."

"An evil human you say?" the old digimon seemed contemplative.

"We believe that he might be being manipulated," Iori added. "So anything you could tell us would be appreciated."

"Well this symbol is relatively rare to see," Jijimon began. "It's known as the 'Mark of Evil' and can be found on some digimon generally associated with the darkness."

"Some digimon?" Tk asked.

"Yes, Devimon, Myotismon, SkullSatamon, just to name a few. There are probably many others," the mega explained. "Not all of evil digimon though. It's an odd thing in fact. Not all digimon who are evil carry the symbol and not all digimon who carry the symbol are evil. Although those who are both tend to be more dangerous than others."

"That doesn't really help us at all," Tk groaned, trying to stave off the incoming headache.

How was he going to tell the others that this symbol didn't really mean much beyond what they already knew?

"You said you found this object in possession of a human?"

"Yes, the Emperor," Tk repeated. "He's a human though so he chose to wear that symbol for whatever reason."

"It could be that he merely copied the symbol from a digimon that he saw," Jijimon reasoned. "It seems unlikely to me that he would know of its meaning if you Digidestined do not."

"Yeah," Lopmon piped up, sitting on the desk. "I mean he's not a digimon or anything so how would he know?"

"True, understanding such a symbol would be rare for an outsider," Jijimon concurred. "You may very well be on a bit of a wild Goosemon chase."

Tk sighed.

"Well thank you very much for your time, Jijimon," he said. "Sorry to bother you."

"It is no bother! You saved us all, there's no need to be like that. I was lucky enough to keep my memories after being reborn and things are far better no-"

An ear-splitting roar was suddenly heard and the entire building shook. The window rattled in its frame and books felt off the shelves and onto the floor. Then, as suddenly as it came, the shaking stopped.

"What in the name of the Great One was that?!" Jijimon wondered.

Lopmon hopped up onto the windowsill to see and gaped.

"It's the mountain!"

"The mountain?! That's where Tai and Izzy are!" Tk remembered, looking out of the window to try and catch a glimpse.

His heart sank as he looked outside.

"Oh no…" he murmured, unaware of his own voice.

Infinity Mountain had just exploded.

* * *

WarGreymon grinned once he saw Izzy had entered the sphere. He no longer had to worry about the Grademon attacking his friend. Now he could focus completely on taking them all out.

The difference in their abilities was beginning to make itself known. Throughout the fight he had gotten some scratches and cuts from their razor-sharp swords. Moments when he just hadn't been quite quick enough to avoid them entirely, yet had still avoided any serious injuries.

The three ultimates however were a mess of dents and claw marks across them. All three had lost their capes long ago in the fight and only one still had both their swords.

"You can't win," WarGreymon stated simply. "I've figured out how you fight."

The three ultimates were silent.

"Your speed is dependent on your swords," the mega continued. "You two aren't anywhere near as fast you were earlier and you're injured."

Silence.

"To be honest, I would have ended this ages ago if I didn't have someone to look after," WarGreymon boasted. "Or didn't have to be careful of my surroundings. Just surrender, or I'll have to kill you."

No answer. WarGreymon felt a little taken aback.

"C-can you even speak-"

One of the Grademon charged him, his swords held tight in both hands. The two slower ones flanked right and left, all trying to attack at once.

'Boasting to make them angry,' Tai surmised, already forming his own counter-strategy. 'Works every time.'

"Cross Blade!" they all cried, their swords lighting up as their speed increased to the point they were mere blurs.

But he was faster.

WarGreymon shot forwards right into their formation and grabbed the duel-wielder by the arms, knocking them both backwards. They grappled for control as the other two changed course.

Shifting in and out of sight as the two Grademon approached the mega's back, swords poised to spear right through him.

Of course, the Victory Tamer was ready.

As he grappled with the duel-wielder, WarGreymon slammed his horned helmet into the Ultimate's.

Then with a simple heave, WarGreymon overpowered the disorientated Grademon and threw the ultimate behind him, straight into the blades of his comrades.

They pierced through his armour with ease and for just a moment all three ultimates were connected together.

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon cried out sending forth a ball of energy bigger than he was.

The three were stuck, trying to remove their blades as the attack exploded against them. The explosion lit up the cave for an instant. The shockwave pulsated through the mountain, shaking the cavern and causing what was left of the bridge to collapse.

Large chunks of rock fell from the ceiling as the explosion died down, leaving the cavern eerily silent.

WarGreymon relaxed as soon as he saw the data dispersing in the air.

'That was close,' Tai sighed. 'At least Izzy got inside.'

'Yeah, talk about a weird fight,' Agumon agreed. 'Who were those guys? Grademon don't normally look like that.'

'I'll take your word for it. They were no joke.'

'We're out of shape.'

'Hey, I've been keeping in shape!' Tai protested. 'I play sports all the time! Look at my abs!'

'Your what?'

'Never mind.'

'Hey, what's that noise?' Agumon wondered. 'It sounds… familiar.'

WarGreymon strained to listen. There was… something. Something down below. He floated downwards, lighting a ball of energy in his hands.

'It sounds metallic, like- gears!'

Thousands upon thousands of them. Covering the entire cavern floor were layers upon layers of different sizes of gears. Some were barely bigger than a Koromon whereas others were as large as an apartment building.

And they were rising.

WarGreymon floated upwards back towards the sphere. He had to get tell Izzy, to get him to try and stop this!

Then two swords went right through his chest.

The mega gasped in shock, unable to even scream the pain was so intense. He turned his head to see a burnt-looking Grademon, who had stabbed him in the back straight between the halves of his shield.

The pain increased ten-fold and WarGreymon let out a strangled cry as the Grademon tore the blades out through his left side.

WarGreymon didn't look at the sheer amount of blood that was pouring out of him. He raised an arm to put as much pressure on the wound as he could and flew.

He could barely muster the strength to turn around and see two of the ultimates, each holding two blades now looking down on him.

'They took the other's swords,' Tai realised. 'Then let him die as a cover!'

This was bad.

He clutched at his chest wounds as the two Grademon's swords began to glow.

This was very bad.

"Th-that's new!" the mega choked out.

"Grade Slash!" the two ultimates yelled.

Four blades of energy shot towards WarGreymon, who threw himself out of the way. The attacks slammed into the side of the cavern, causing large rocks to fall down onto the gears below.

"Grade Slash!"

He was forced to dodge again and again and again as more energy blades were fired at him. Pain shot up his side and he nearly fell out of the air, but he managed to keep going.

'That's what we get for lowering our fucking guard!' Tai roared internally.

'Tai, they're destroying the cave!'

Energy blade after energy blade was avoided by the mega only to slam directly into the cave walls or the ceiling.

Huge gouges were carved into the rock as they tried to strike him down. More and more rocks were falling into the gears far below. It was only a matter of time before one hit the sphere and sent it tumbling downwards or the gears caught it and did… god knows what to it.

Either way, they had to get out of here.

There was no more time to hold back. It was do or let Izzy die.

With a roar, WarGreymon fought through the pain towards the sphere, energy blades carving the area right behind him into dust.

His energy gathered into his right palm, getting larger and larger with each passing instant. Within a few seconds it was so big he had to hold it with two hands.

He removed his left hand from his wound and the sudden rush of blood and light-headedness made his vision swim.

Yet he held the attack above him with all the valour of a deity, it doubling in size every instant until his fading strength couldn't withstand it any longer.

"Terra Force!" he yelled, throwing the attack.

Like a small sun, the ball of energy shot towards the Grademon. Their attacks were unable to even phase it so they simply dodged.

Instead the ball collided with the wall of the cavern and the area was bathed in light and fire. For one instant everything was black then the next it was light as the real sun shone into the collapsing cavern.

Not having missed a beat, WarGreymon tore the sphere from its platform and flew with it straight towards the outside.

What little stability there had been was now gone. An avalanche of rock and soot cascaded down on the mega and the sphere as he kept flying forwards. It seemed as if the entire mountain itself was now collapsing around him.

The sphere became heavier and heavier as he broke free. Something sharp buried itself in his leg and WarGreymon lost his balance.

He began to lose altitude and he no longer had the strength to correct himself. It would take everything he had to slow the sphere's descent gradually so as not to kill Izzy.

Groaning with pain he forced his body to slow itself as the trees grew ever closer below him. Blackness began to creep in at the edges of his vision as he slammed into the treetops and lost control completely.

His entire world was tumbling over and over again, scenes of green and silver flashing in front of him momentarily until his momentum ran out.

Finally, he came to a rest in the middle of a meadow, the sphere halting right next to him. It didn't seem damaged on the outside, but that didn't mean Izzy was fine-

Tai refused to continue that train of thought any longer.

For several peaceful seconds, WarGreymon just lay there in the grass, focussing on nothing but the feel of the grass underneath him. His vision soon cleared enough that he could see Infinity Mountain. There was a massive gaping hole in its side, but against all odds it somehow stayed upright.

WarGreymon let his head roll back into the grass. Now he could focus on recovering.

Then the sounds of two sets of metal boots landed nearby.

'You've got to be… fucking… kidding…' Tai thought, in equal parts tired and furious.

The two Grademon hadn't come out of the exploding mountain unscathed. Their armour was completely wrecked and the two were covered in blood. Only some of which was his.

Although they still had all their swords, the two Grademon were clearly injured. There were obvious gaps in their armour. One's chest plate was completely wrecked and the other's helmet had been split open.

Of course this was still more than enough to deal with WarGreymon as he was now.

The two ultimates slowly approached the downed mega, their blades looking ten times sharper as they glinted in the sunlight.

It took a truly herculean effort, but WarGreymon slowly, eventually stood up on two shaking feet.

He would never give up.

The ultimates marched closer.

That was how he had always lived his life.

The Grademon raised their blades.

There was no DigiMental to save him from this.

WarGreymon saw his own eyes reflected in the blood-red metal.

The future would always belong to those who never gave up.

"Rose Spear."

A sword made out of a vine jutted from the Grademon's chest. The ultimate looked stunned for a second before it vanished into data.

The other Grademon twirled round to defend itself, swinging it's blades in a wide arc at the newcomer.

Rosemon deflected the attack with ease. Her rapier curled around the Ultimate's swords and yanked them out of his hands.

Grademon staggered back as a fist slammed straight into his stomach. Then another into his head and a final blow to the back of his knees brought him down onto the ground.

The whip became a rapier once more and stabbed the downed digimon straight through his visor. Instantly he burst into data.

WarGreymon stared, completely stunned at what he had seen.

"So," Rosemon began cheerfully, approaching the stunned WarGreymon. "I see you've been having fun."

WarGreymon laughed.

"Er, yeah," he coughed. "Would you believe I got careless?"

"With those weaklings?" she questioned, smiling. "You must have."

"Hey, I softened them up!" he protested, not unfairly.

"Sure you did," she said. "Whatever makes you feel better."

The two looked at one another for a moment.

"Thanks though, I really do appreciate it," WarGreymon said, before pausing. "I'm going to pass out now."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa big guy-urk!" Rosemon lunged forwards to catch him as he tipped over. "You're not getting out that easily. I mean come on, you blew up Infinity Mountain! I've got to hear this story."

"Is' not all gone," he slurred. "Still there… mostly."

"You're an idiot," she said affectionately, slowly putting him down. "What's with that ball?"

"Izzy's in there!" WarGreymon declared brightly.

"Ok," Rosemon said carefully, before looking back at the mountain. "Something's coming out of the mountain."

WarGreymon looked up.

"Black Gears," he whispered. "The mountain's full of them. They started moving when Izzy went into the ball."

"Wait, he's actually in there?!" Rosemon asked. "You didn't just take a blow to the head?"

"Yeah."

"That many Black Gears though?" Rosemon muttered. "Damn, that's easily enough for everyone on the island."

The Sphere began to hum. Rosemon instinctively moved into a ready position, but the sphere remained still. Then a muffled voice could be heard.

"Um, hello?" a voice that sounded remarkably like Izzy said. "I opened the door and all I can see is grass."

"Hold on," Rosemon said.

Carefully she lifted the sphere up, exposing Izzy who was lying on the ground. He was a little bruised and battered, but had a massive grin on his face.

"Rosemon? So I guess you two reunited after all."

"You betcha!" Rosemon gave a thumbs up. "And we're better and badder than ever! Already saved our fearless leader's butt once. Not bad for a first appearance."

"Izzy," WarGreymon spoke up. "Can you shut down the Black Gears? They're escaping from the mountain."

"I didn't activate them," Izzy said, eyes wide at the swarm in the distance. "At least not on purpose. It might have been an automated process…"

"So you can't stop them?" he asked, despondent.

"There aren't any actual commands in there. I didn't even realise anything serious was happening until everything started bumping about!"

"Well it looks like it's our lucky day," Rosemon said, peering at the mountain. "The others are taking care of the problem as we speak."

They looked up as the black swarm were all sucked into a small portal in the sky. Amidst this flashes of fire and electricity mopped up the many others who were missed by MagnaAngemon.

"Wow, that's a useful ability," WarGreymon commented wistfully. "Wish I could do that. MagnaAngemon gets all the good stuff."

Rosemon and Izzy exchanged a glance.

"Ok, I think you need some rest," Rosemon decided. "Split apart and I'll get you back to Primary Village."

"Don't forget the tablet we found," Izzy remembered. "It's on top of Infinity Mountain. With all that smoke coming out it might rain soon-"

And that was the last thing Tai heard before he passed out.

* * *

Tai next awoke to a warm feeling covering his body. He burst awake suddenly and he heard people laugh.

Opening his eyes he saw Angewomon standing in front of him, with Kari off to the side. Matt and Joe were right behind them as well as Izzy along with Mimi and Palmon and Agumon all standing in front of him.

"Oh, thanks Angewomon," he said gratefully to the ultimate. "I feel as good as ever. Well except for my arm, you didn't heal that completely."

He was suddenly tackled by Kari who hugged him tightly.

"Don't ever do that again!" she scolded and Tai had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the serious look on the twelve year old's face.

"I won't," he said, idly scratching his stomach. "It wasn't my fault anyway, Agumon got careless."

"Hey!" his partner protested. "I'm always looking out for us! It's you who got arrogant."

"Me? I am the absolute model of humility!" Tai declared, a big smile on his face. "And don't you forget it."

It felt good to laugh with everyone again.

"How are things?" he asked Matt once everything had died down. "Everyone make it back alright?"

"So far. Just waiting on Tk and his group. They're bringing that tablet thing back from Infinity Mountain."

Matt then raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to want all the details by the way."

"You'll get them don't worry," Tai smirked. "As soon as you tell me what you were thinking when you dated Samantha."

Matt groaned, pulling at his stupidly long hair.

"Honestly what is with everyone bringing that up today?!" he grumbled.

Tai chuckled.

"So all in all, a success then?"

"Well apart from you nearly dying, yeah. We found another Digimental and got some info on where Gennai may have gone. Meanwhile, Tk found some information on that symbol and Izzy says he has a library's worth of data from the sphere and tablet. He actually said he gives the Emperor about a week before we're through with him. So… yeah."

Tai gaped.

"That's like the most I've ever heard you say in one go."

"I will lay you flat out on the ground," Matt responded matter-of-factly. "I swear."

"Wait a minute," Tai frowned, looking around at everyone. "Where's Sora?"

"Sora?" Matt asked. "She should be around here somewhere. BanchoLeomon said she never left Primary Village."

The two exchanged worried glances.

"I'll go look for her," Tai declared. "Make up an excuse for me."

Matt nodded.

"Good luck, buddy."

It was pretty easy to sneak away from everyone as they milled about chatting. Tai walked alone amongst Primary Village. It was practically a sea of cradles and he was doing his utmost not to wake any of them up.

The sky was an ominous grey.

As he continued deeper into the village, the cradles were soon replaced with eggs, all standing upright and just waiting for the time to hatch.

There were countless different colours and patterns, more than Tai could ever describe. But it was a familiar flash of red that he was looking out for and it wasn't long before he spotted it.

There Sora was, standing in the middle of the village, eyes cast downwards.

"Um, Sora?" Tai asked carefully. "Are you alright? Shall we go back to the others?"

No response. She just stood there with her back turned to him.

"Sora?" he asked as tenderly as he could.

Her hands were in fists and they were trembling. Slowly, cautiously, he put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

She spun around to face him.

"I couldn't find her," she said, toneless.

Tai blinked. Couldn't find who? He wisely chose not to say this aloud. He knew her well, he just had to wait.

"She's not here," Sora repeated. "Why isn't she here?"

Was she looking for Biyomon? Why would Biyomon be here? There was the whole digital world to explore, why would she be upset she wasn't here-

Then Tai saw, clenched in Sora's hand, her digivice.

Carefully, he took her hand in his and raised it up to his eye level. Gently, he prised open her fingers and caught a look at the screen.

It was filled with static.

"S-Sora," he said, near wordless. "I-"

"Why isn't she here, Tai?" this time Sora choked, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. "She can't be gone, she can't!"

It was like he was looking back through time, in a mirror at himself from five years ago. Tear stained cheeks, repeating that no he just couldn't be gone. Not without a single word.

It was with experience Tai knew that no words could comfort his friend right now. For none had been able to comfort him.

It was with experience Tai knew that the best thing to do right now was just to be there. Because people had been there for him.

It was with experience Tai knew that with help she would overcome this someday. Because people had done that for him.

So, the Victory Tamer let his friend cry on his shoulder, just like she had let him all those years ago, as rain fell slowly from the sky.

* * *

 **A/N: Ended on a pretty sad note, even though they've secured heaps of data. Anyway please tell me what your thoughts on the chapter. What you liked, didn't like. etc  
**

 **The new kids didn't really get to do much this chapter, but they'll make up for it. After all the older Chosen can't all come together that often.**

 **Questions:**

 **Ultimateblack:** Well Matt is the type of guy who would date many people in his life, it's more something that the others can embarass him with. Thanks very much for saying that you like the characters so much, I'm very happy as I'm trying to focus on character development in this fic. I would love to review your work, which I will do at some point this week.

 **Green-Chrystall:** I love long reveiws and I find them really motivating, so don't apologise for rambling. I'm glad you've liked things so far as well, particularly the characters as they're what I've been focusing on the most. About pairings, again I'm not really into any particular pairings, as any good fic can get me to appreciate any pairing (at least ones that aren't inherently squicky). I'm trying to make it subtle and not really part of the main story, because I don't want the romance to take up a lot of time. It's just for helping characters and maybe bring some happiness into their lives. Thanks for the lovely review.

 **HUGE thanks for all the support and love you've all had for the story! It wouldn't be here without you guys, remember that!**

 **IMPORTANT**

 **Since I'm going off to University again soon, this will obviously eat into my free time. Unlike last year where I stopped updating for awhile now that I know what to expect and plan my time more efficiently I will conitnue to update all the way until the exam season (hopefully).  
**

 **The update schedule will be one chapter a month and depending on how that goes there could be more or less.**

 **If anything does change you will all be notified so don't worry. It will be on my profile and at the end of the last chapter of the story.**

 **I'll see you all again in October.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 9: Breadth of Evil

**A/N: Hey everyone, things have been very hectic for the past few months. I hope you enjoy the chapter regardless.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own digimon**

* * *

 **Breadth of Evil**

"Dad, breakfast is ready!" Matt called out, knocking on the door to his dad's bedroom. "It's er... nothing fancy, y'know!"

There sounded like a mad scrambling from behind the door. Matt barely had time to blink before the door swung open, revealing Hiroaki dressed rather unusually.

"Wow, looking sharp," Matt commented, a sly smile snaking across his face. "What's with the suit?"

"I-I always wear a suit for work!" Hiroaki said hastily, quickly walking past his son.

"No, you always wear a shirt and a tie," his son corrected, following after him. "Sometimes the shirt's even washed!"

"Very funny," Hiroaki said, as they entered the kitchen and sat down to begin with their breakfast.

The familiar silence in which they always ate breakfast soon enveloped the table. Hiroaki looked up at his son, only to see the boy studying him intently, suspicion clear in his blue eyes. Hiroaki swallowed his mouthful.

"So er..." he began. "How's your 'Digimon' thing going?"

Matt's eyes widened in surprise at his dad. He slurped up the solitary noodle dangling out of his mouth and nearly choked in his haste to answer.

"Well... it seemed to go well," he said cautiously. "Izzy said he found some useful info from that sphere and the tablet. He wants us to meet up later so we can discuss it. Um, Tai said that Kari, Tk and the others want to go Spire Hunting, which I guess is good too..."

Hiroaki caught his son's worried gaze and smiled.

"As long as you're all being careful," he said reassuringly. "I wouldn't want to lose my son's incredible cooking skills after all!"

Matt stared at his father for a moment before chuckling.

"Ha-ha," he said, smiling. "Nice try, but you're not going to distract me."

Hiroaki blinked, smile frozen on his face.

"Huh? Distract you?"

"It was smart, but I figured it out," Matt claimed smugly, folding his arms as he leant back.

Hiroaki's smile became a little more forced.

"F-figured what out?"

"It's a date isn't it?"

"... what?!"

"The fancy suit, the different time, it all adds up. You have a date after work!" Matt's excitement seemed to grow. "I'm right aren't I?"

"Is it really that hard to believe I just wanted to look nice for a change?!"

"You're a complete slob! Of course it is!"

"I can't believe this... My own son calling me a slob!"

"You say I'm a slob all the time!"

"Get ready for school you brat."

Hiroaki stood up and deposited his empty bowl in the sink. He then walked towards the front door as Matt grumbled about washing the dishes under his breath. Hiroaki opened the door and took a step forwards.

"I mean it though, Yamato," he said, standing in the door frame. "I might not understand much about this sort of stuff, hell I don't think anyone truly understands much about this, but I do know that it's something you have to do.

Matt stood motionless by the sink, staring at the back of his father's head.

"Dad..."

"Be careful, alright? Take good care of your brother, both there and here you understand me? Stay vigilant and don't trust anyone."

A cold feeling began to seep through Matt. He could only see his father's silhouette, framed by the light from the morning sun rising over their apartment building.

"I'm so proud of the both of you."

The door slammed shut and Matt was left alone.

* * *

Fire burst forth from the ground and streaked high in the sky like a shooting star. Far above the metal spires and uncaring landscape; it seemed to defy the lifeless colour of the world around. They stared as it hung there, suspended for one impossible moment, before it was consumed by the fading twilight of the digital world and everything became dark once again.

It was beautiful, in its own way, how such a thing could happen, even if it was only through the pain of innocents. Wiping away some of the perpetual sweat on his forehead, Gomamon turned his eyes away from the sky and continued to hammer into the cold rock along with his fellow prisoners. The chains around his paws only made the task harder, but it was futile to try and fight their jailors, at least for the moment.

He glanced down the cliff he was mining, down below where even more digimon were working. Except from this angle he could clearly see the rings around their necks, as well as their glowing red eyes. No amount of fire arcing across the fire could cause them to waver, not even slow down their methodical swinging.

Gomamon shivered and averted his eyes. It was like they weren't even truly alive anymore.

Some tactical sense had rubbed off on him from his travels and he knew when it was best to fight and when it was best to simply wait. It had been him making the wrong choice that had trapped him in this situation in the first place.

He sometimes forgot he was alone now.

Gomamon's arms ached like they had never done before as he once more forced the pickaxe into the rock below. Again and again and again. The little groove he'd been working at for the last couple of hours was only a slightly larger than before

There was a rumble far below his feet and the ground shook. Gomamon looked up just in time to see it. From the hole where the fire had spurted, bellowed instead a thick, toxic smoke. Unlike the fire, this stayed low, making its way down the mountainside to sweep over all of them.

"Incoming!" Gomamon hollered, holding on to a nearby outcropping of rock as best he could.

Those among him who still had the strength and will copied his movements. Only those too exhausted to move and the controlled digimon below took no heed.

It wasn't like any other smoke he had encountered. It sunk low and creeped along the ground like it was alive and wanted to swallow them all. Sometimes in his less lucid moments he thought he could see faces in approaching gloom. Numerous faces piled on top of one another with their mouths open in silent screams...

Within moments it was upon them. The rookie reeled like he had been struck over and over. Each moment was a new agony as he struggled to hold on. He could feel his claws slipping from their handhold but didn't dare open his eyes. He'd made that mistake once and hadn't been able to see for hours afterwards.

The smoke continued to blow past them for a few more agonising seconds. Gomamon felt a strong pull on his left arm and nearly lost his grip. His claws began to slide down the rock. He was going to fall!

Then it stopped.

Gomamon fell back onto the rock and scrambled up on top of it.

Waiting for one more cautious moment, he slowly opened an eye. Upon seeing the coast was clear, he tugged lightly on his chains. Upon receiving answering pulls he allowed himself to relax a little. No-one had been blown off the mountain this time.

He had to admit, sometimes he regretted mouthing off towards the Emperor's minions so often. Maybe then they wouldn't have placed him among the captured champions and forced him to do as much work as they do.

Gomamon just laid there on the ground and tried to regain his strength. Through the rocks he could still hear the ever present impact of the digimon below, slowly grinding their way through the mountain.

There were less of them now.

He had no idea what they were doing here. Were they building something? Were they looking for something? Was this entire place just built to torture them? He had never realised, never even imagined that a human could be so cruel. It hurt him in ways he couldn't even describe, that this would be the first experience with humanity that many digimon would have.

A screech from overhead forced him back onto his feet. A dark shadow swept over him as some nameless digimon flew around the mountain, ready to pluck away anyone slacking off.

"Joe..." Gomamon moaned, shivering hard. "Please help me! I can't take this much longer!"

Somewhere, not too far from the mountain, a long forgotten screen lit up.

* * *

The lights came on once again and polite applause filled the small room. Kari saw Miss Bui's beaming smile as the projector was turned off and the last of the pictures she had taken on the weekend disappeared.

"Excellent, Kari!" the photography teacher said. "Incredible photos, such beautiful imagery!"

Kari felt her face grow hot under the praise.

"Thank you, Miss Bui," she replied modestly with a small smile. "I spent a lot of time choosing the best ones."

Pride blossomed within Kari's chest, it wasn't a lie. She had really spent a long time choosing and editing the most stunning of the photographs she had taken. Her hard work was paying off so far. Even some of the older members of the club seemed captivated by her pictures, by what she was trying to express. It felt fantastic to see people take a look at the photos she had taken, at her work, and find beauty in them. She couldn't stop her smile from growing.

"It really shows, my dear," Miss Bui said, smiling back. "The balance between the light and dark in your photos is impressive, you're picking these things up very quickly. Why, with a better camera you could produce even greater pictures!"

"I- er, I'll think about it," Kari responded, looking down at the camera in her hands. "I really don't know if my parents would be willing to spend money on a better camera."

Good cameras were expensive, not like soccer balls.

"They would do well to encourage such a talent," her teacher said, not unkindly. "Anyway, where is it that you managed to take such pictures?"

That warm feeling vanished and was quickly replaced with ice.

"Those plants looked so strange and captivating. I've travelled all around the world and I've never seen them before!"

She had been careful not to show any of the photos with digimon present, or even anything that could give away she had been in another world. She hadn't realised the plants on File Island were so strange.

"Er, well, my friend has a collection of strange plants," Kari lied, forcing a smile. "And over the weekend she was willing to let me take a few pictures of them."

"Wow, you are incredibly lucky to know someone like that!" Miss Bui clapped her hands together excitedly. "The plant collectors I've all talked to are always so stingy about letting me take photographs. I'm honestly a little jealous."

Kari's hand gripped around her new digivice, at the new Digimental that now shone within it. She grimaced at the memory of Tk's face when he had seen it.

"Yeah, I am lucky..."

Well there was no putting it off for much longer. They were all supposed to be meeting up soon to talk about what Izzy had discovered from their last trip. Kari thanked everyone there profusely before quickly packing up her things and leaving the classroom. She walked slowly, consumed by her thoughts.

The late afternoon sun lit up the corridor in orange light, sending melancholic shifting and stretching across the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, Kari spotted something move.

Heart beating, she span around-

"Something wrong?"

Only for to Gatomon drop onto her shoulders from above. Kari let out a relieved breath.

"I don't know how you keep doing that," she told her partner. "You're far too sneaky sometimes"

"Well it comes with the territory," Gatomon purred swinging from Kari's left shoulder. "Can't have any humans spotting me. That would be awkward."

"There's no one here except me."

"It's also fun to scare you a little," the champion admitted with a wink, making Kari giggle. "Is something the matter, Kari? You don't normally just stare off into space like that."

"It's nothing, Gatomon."

She avoided her partner's gaze.

"Is it about the meeting today?"

Kari said nothing.

"Come on," Gatomon prompted, shaking her shoulder roughly. "Talking about it will make you feel better."

"I don't want to talk about it," Kari admitted. "Too much is happening right now and I don't want to spend all evening arguing pointlessly about what to do and get nothing done!"

Gatomon watched silently as they continued to walk down the corridor. She was close, she could feel it. There were plenty of things that had been getting on her partner's nerves lately and they settled like static across her fur.

Some things Kari would have to figure out on her own when she was ready, but other, more immediate concerns, she could have some help with.

'Maybe just a little push,' the champion thought to herself.

"Is there anything else bothering you?"

"Nothing is bothering me."

"You know I'll always be here, especially when you need someone to talk too," Gatomon said, giving her partner a pointed look. "When you need to talk about a certain blonde."

"I don't need someone to talk to!" Kari huffed.

"Oh please," Gatomon snorted, curling up on her partner's shoulder like an ordinary housecat. "You and Tk have barely spoken today, don't think everyone hasn't noticed."

"Everything's fine," Kari insisted without enthusiasm.

"Come on, Kari. I used to specialise in interrogation. Do you really think I won't get you to spill what's bothering you exactly?"

"There's nothing that's bothering me," she insisted, turning her face away from her partner. "Things between me and Tk are fine."

"Ok then," Kari could practically hear the sinister smile on her partner's face. "You've asked for it."

She slowly felt the tip of Gatomon's paw press firmly into her cheek.

"Come on, Kari. Tell me about it."

And again.

"Come oooooon. Kaaaaarrrrriiiiii."

And yet again.

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."

Another poke.

"Pleeeeaaaaaassssssseeeee. Don't brood like your brother!"

"Ok, ok!" Kari caved in, waving her partner's paw away.

"Ha-ha!" Gatomon cawed triumphantly. "I told knew you were no match for my skills."

"Whatever," Kari responded, folding her arms. "And I don't brood, by the way, I ponder. They're completely different!"

"Oh really?" Gatomon asked dryly. "Well what were you pondering then, may I ask?"

"I- it's about Tk," Kari admitted, any trace of humour dropped from her voice like a stone. "After the whole Digimental of Hope thing he's been acting distant."

"You think he's jealous that you got it and not him?"

"Maybe partly that, but I think there's something else as well," here she became frustrated. "I mean I told him that anyone should be able to use it, but he's still acting so... so weird!"

"We haven't actually tried it yet though," Gatomon pointed out. "That's just a theory. A theory you came up with only a couple of days ago."

"Well it got us out of that maze, didn't it?"

Gatomon shrugged, a rather incredible feat given her position.

"You using the Digimental of Hope got us out of that maze. Why it chose you could be another matter entirely."

"I'm sure anyone can use it though," Kari insisted. "They just have to be in the right mind-set! But Tk just won't listen."

Gatomon was silent. She slowly patted her partner's back.

Kari groaned, holding her head in her hands.

"I just don't understand him!"

* * *

"I just don't understand her!" Tk proclaimed, pacing in front of a confused Patamon and a bored looking Yolei. "I mean why did she just tell me like that?"

He stomped up and down the deserted computer room like a child. At a nearby desk, Yolei, Patamon and Poromon watched him rant and mutter, a little concerned for him.

"As opposed to telling you some other way?" she asked, lazily typing on the computer in front of her. "So she has your Digimental, what's the big deal? I have Izzy's and he's been awesome about it."

"It's just-" Tk scrambled for words. "It's personal, alright?! The Crest of Hope is a part of me. It just feels weird that someone else would have it."

"None of the others feel weird about it," Yolei pointed out. "You'd think they'd say something if they did."

"Well, none of them had another Chosen take there's," he huffed, before folding his arms and mumbling. "And you don't exactly know them either…"

Yolei snarled and threw up her hands.

"Whatever! You two have your little lovers spat! Meanwhile I'm going to be useful and try and find out where the Emperor's hiding!"

She turned back towards her computer as Tk continued to pace.

Yolei focused on tuning him out. Tonight was a rare opportunity and she wasn't going to let Tk's little tantrum ruin it. The entire Digital World was open before her. With her digivice she had free access to anyone of the numerous devices that could bring them to nearly any location they chose.

Yolei's fingers flew over the keyboard as she cycled through the monitors. Trying to catch a glimpse of any indication that the Emperor could be hiding nearby. There were just so many though; even shifting through them could take days to accomplish.

"Do you really think he'd be hiding right in front of one of the TV screens?" Poromon asked, sitting on the desk and peering up at the monitor curiously. "That doesn't really seem like something he'd do."

"I'm not looking for him directly," she scoffed, eyes never leaving the screen. "Any indication like a spire in the distance, Black Rings flying about or on a digimon. I mean come on, he's not exactly subtle. That way I can probably find out where he keeps his main base, then we can just go in there and shove his smug face into the mud!"

"A brilliant plan, if I do say so," Poromon applauded.

"Well I do like to spend my time productively," Yolei responded modestly, before turning around. "Unlike some people!"

She stared right into Iori's startled face.

"Hey Cody, I didn't hear you come in," she greeted, like she hadn't just yelled. "How was Kendo?"

"Tiring," he replied, setting his bag down. "Is Takeru still upset?"

"Is he still pacing?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

Upamon's head poked out of Cody's bag.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully, blinking in the sudden light. "I got to try orange juice today! It was awesome!"

"Well there's more that I brought from my parent's store," Yolei gestured towards a nearby plastic bag. "Poromon and Patamon have already pigged out on most of the food though."

"I'm not a pig," Patamon mumbled, lying down and watching his partner pace on the other side of the room.

"Are you feeling alright?" Iori asked.

The little rookie shrugged.

"Well you're certainly having a better day than some people," Iori noted, before turning to Yolei. "Are we still going to the Digital World today?"

Yolei sighed.

"I should hope so," she said. "We're just waiting on Davis and Kari. You'd think he wouldn't be late, what with this being his idea and everything."

"Well, you know Davis," Iori said.

"Unfortunately," Yolei muttered, turning back to the screen as Iori shifted uncomfortably. "He's probably making us wait so he can have some 'alone time' with her."

"You shouldn't be so hard on Davis," Iori suggested. "He tries his best."

"Yeah, sure," Yolei snorted. "I don't think that muscle-head has ever worked hard a day in his life. At least not when it doesn't involve a soccer ball, anyway. Honestly, I don't know why he was even chosen as opposed to intelligent people like us."

"That's a little unfair, Yolei," Iori said sternly. "You shouldn't talk about people behind their back."

Yolei didn't respond. She was staring at the screen in shock.

"That can't be," she murmured. "Get the others now!"

* * *

Davis hummed happily as he kicked away the last soccer ball into the school's supply shed. It slammed into the back with a bang, rolling away somewhere Davis couldn't care less. He closed the door and locked it with a smile.

"You seem happy today, Davis," DemiVeemon spoke from his perch on top of his partner's head. "What's the occasion?"

"Oh nothing," he replied, walking back towards the school with an obvious swing in his step. "Nothing except Kari has a digivice just like mine now."

"Is that good?" DemiVeemon asked, confused.

"Good? It's better than good!" Davis replied, taking his partner off his head and looking at him. "It means we're going to get to spend more time together! Fighting evil and kicking the Emperor's butt whenever we want to!"

"But hasn't she been doing that anyway?"

"Well yeah, but now Kari's officially one of us," Davis explained, pointing towards himself proudly. "She's part of the new team! The new Digidestined, Version 2.0! Bigger, badder and better than ever!"

"But you're shorter than them," DemiVeemon pointed out.

"I was speaking metaphorically, you little troll."

"But I'm a digimon!"

"Yeah, you are- ugh," Davis groaned. "I nearly forgot! We're going to the digital world right after school! Yolei's going to be so mad!"

He placed DemiVeemon back on top of his head and ran into the school, making his way towards the computer room.

As he ran through the corridors, he saw a familiar figure. Davis' face lit up as he lifted his hand and called out.

"Hey, Kari!"

Kari barely had time to turn around before Davis was standing in front of her. She had to hold in her giggles at DemiVeemon, who was riding on top of him like an animal, his tiny fists full of Davis' hair.

"Perfect!" Davis cheered. "Come on, we've got to go to the digital world! Yolei and the others are waiting! We're going to kick the Emperor's butt for sure!"

"What?" Kari began to protest. "But I have a-,"

But Davis had already run past her; DemiVeemon bouncing happily on top of his head.

She stood there for a moment staring after Davis. Above, unseen by Kari, Gatomon looked down at her partner patiently. Biting her lip anxiously, Kari broke out into a sprint and ran after Davis.

Gatomon smiled and followed after her.

By the time she'd caught up, Yolei's voice was loud enough to be heard down the corridor.

"This is serious, you numbskull!" she hollered, hands on her hips. "We've got to go into the digital world now!"

"What's happening?" Kari asked, walking in and deliberately not looking at Tk. "What's with the yelling?"

"Oh thank goodness you're here, Kari," Yolei said, looking relieved.

Kari was struck at the sheer panic present on Yolei's face.

"Y-you're not going to believe this, but I saw Joe in the Digital World!"

"What?!"

"He was in trouble!" Yolei continued, looking pale. "Something was dragging him away."

"And you didn't go in and help?!" Davis yelled.

"I didn't have time!" Yolei said. "It just- it just happened!"

"We shouldn't bicker right now," Iori stated. "He needs our help."

"Iori's right. Calm down you two," Tk interjected. "We'll go in right now and rescue him."

"Then let's not waste time," Kari said, pulling out her digivice. "Everyone, come on! Let's go get Joe back!"

* * *

The train pulled into the station and Tai stepped off onto the platform. A cold evening wind swept by and he clutched his school jacket tightly. At least there weren't any giant eyes staring at him this time.

He had found himself returning more and more to Neo's house lately and wasn't exactly sure that's a good thing. Neo wasn't exactly normal, something the boy in question acknowledged, but he usually gave surprisingly good advice.

Now might not have been the best time, Tai reflected, what with Izzy being so excited to share what he had learned from their mission the other day. But this wasn't a matter that could wait. He clutched tightly at the familiar, yet still foreign device in his pocket.

Tai slowly walked the well-known path towards Neo's house and it wasn't long before he arrived.

He lifted his hand to the ring the front bell.

"I notice you didn't bring your partner this time," Neo said.

Tai turned to see Neo, in full school uniform, standing behind him with a black bag slung over his shoulder.

"Koromon decided to stay behind this time," Tai explained. "How've things been?"

Neo's lip curled.

"Pretty boring actually," he said, striding past Tai and opening the gate. "That's probably going to change now that you're here. Rei's doing some extra-curricular work at school. A friend will be dropping her off later. Until then it's just going to be you and me."

"Oh, wonderful," Tai replied smiling.

The two entered the house and went up into the Neo's room. He threw his black bag onto his bed and sat down in the chair at his desk.

"So, Yagami," Neo spoke, lacing his fingers together. "What can I do for you today?"

Tai swallowed and withdrew his hand from his pocket.

"I need you to take a look at this," he said, opening his hand and revealing Sora's digivice.

Neo peered down at the static filled screen.

"It belongs to my friend," Tai explained, filling in the curious silence. "Her partner… well we don't know what happened. I was hoping you could figure something out."

Neo gestured and Tai handed him the digivice.

 _Bzzzt!_

Immediately there was a burst of electricity. Neo swore and dropped the digivice onto the floor.

"Whoa, you alright?" Tai asked. "I-It's never done that before!"

"Then I wonder why it did," Neo murmured, cautiously watching the device as it lay on the floor.

He seemed more curious than irritated. Even as he clenched his hand in pain, his eyes never left the device. There was a sudden light in them that Tai hadn't seen in a while. Quickly, he scooted over to his desk and opened the drawer.

He withdrew a couple of things and placed them on his desk, before withdrawing a pair of tweezers.

Carefully, he picked up the digivice and placed it on the desk right next to another familiar item.

Tai's mouth dropped open.

"That's…"

"… an 01 digivice," Neo confirmed, waving his hand as he began comparing the two. "Yes I kept mine, purely for curiosities sake, I assure you. You don't have to worry."

"No, it's not that," Tai corrected. "I was just surprised. I trust you."

Neo stilled.

"Thanks."

Silently he continued his work.

"They are very similar," he affirmed as Tai watched over his shoulder. "The inscription and the basic design seem identical, although there are some differences."

"It can't do a lot of things our original ones can do," Tai said, still eyeing the old digivice. "But once you get used to it, it's not so bad."

"That merging ability seems pretty useful though."

"Yeah, but that was hard to get."

"At least the old ones never shocked me."

"Err, sorry about that," Tai said sheepishly. "I-I don't know why it did that."

"I think you may."

"It- Gennai said that the digivices are containers of the light. And well what with your history…"

"You think it might be able to tell I was influenced by Daemon?"

"I don't know!" Tai ran his hands through his hair. "It's possible?!"

"It's something to be considered," Neo said. "I'll take a look at it later. Your friend doesn't mind if I take it apart?"

Tai winced.

"No, she won't mind."

The room became silent, with only the muted tinkles of metal on metal as Neo carefully worked on the device. Tai watched silently behind him, utterly lost at the strange mechanics and circuitry within the devices. He idly tapped his fingers against the back of Neo's chair.

"So what happened to your little plan?" Neo questioned idly, never taking his eyes off the devices. "Anything interesting?"

"Well we found the source of the Black Gears and destroyed them," Tai said casually. "Also Kari found the Digimental of Hope. She said a ghost gave it to her."

"A ghost?" Neo actually turned to give Tai a look.

"You know, the sort-of-see-through thing that haunts places?"

"I didn't know digimon had ghosts like that," Neo muttered.

"You didn't?" Tai seemed surprised. "Well I guess there are somethings even you don't know about the digital world, huh?"

"Perhaps," Neo said, disregarding the issue. "So how are the new kids coming along? Any other surprises?"

"Well, other than the whole Digimental of Hope thing, not really," Tai responded. "But that's a whole new issue. Honestly, I'm pretty impressed with them. I mean, we haven't really been teaching them or anything, what would we teach them, but they work really well together."

Tai clutched the chair hard.

"They'll make a really good team someday," he said, with a little pride. "I mean if them and Tk hadn't been there, all of File Island might have been infected with the Black Gears."

"Then it's a good thing they were," Neo replied simply. "Guess the digital world does know how to pick them."

"Yeah…"

"Oh don't mope, please. We've all had more than enough of that for one lifetime."

"W-what?!" Tai spluttered. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I know you're at that age, hormones and everything, but please try to stay positive. No one likes a whiner."

"You're barely older than me, you jerk!"

"Maybe physically."

"And who are you calling a 'whiner'?!"

"Well there's only two of us here, and I'm not talking to myself."

"I swear if you didn't have Sora's digivice right now…" Tai growled.

"…You'd probably whine some more," Neo finished for him absentmindedly. "Hmm, I'll need some time to go over this properly, but I think I have some good news."

"You do?"

"This digivice is clearly based on our original models and so should react similarly," he explained, holding up his own device. "Each digivice is connected to a single digimon. Once that digimon dies the device shuts off until it connects with another."

Tai nodded.

"But your friend's digivice hasn't deactivated," Neo observed, rubbing his hand. "It just can't seem to find them, but then…"

He trailed off, looking thoughtful. Tai leaned in hesitantly.

"I don't think your friend's partner is dead."

* * *

They appeared in a heap in the digital world. After disentangling themselves they quickly stood up, groaning at their aching joints from landing on the cold rocky ground.

A dirty grey fog pervaded the immediate area. All around them, long lifeless shadows of trees stretched upwards as far as could be seen. They were all ramrod straight, completely stripped of any branches and leaves.

"Which direction did you see him get dragged off into?" Kari asked Yolei.

"I-I think this way," Yolei pointed hesitantly. "Wow, this place is a lot creepier in person."

"You're not kidding," Davis agreed, shivering a little. "It's so foggy here I can barely see in front of my face!"

"This isn't natural," Gatomon declared, eyes slit. "This place smells wrong."

"I don't like it either, Tk," Patamon said, anxiously looking about. "I feel like we shouldn't be here."

"We came here to rescue Joe," Iori reminded everyone. "We shouldn't just abandon him."

"We're not going to!" Davis said, taking the lead. "Let's get going! The sooner we find him; the sooner we can get out of here!"

"Right!" Veemon agreed, marching alongside his partner.

"Hey, we should stay close together," Tk suggested. "We don't want to get lost in this fog."

"Good idea," Yolei agreed, nervously looking around.

"Don't worry, Miss Yolei," Hawkmon declared. "I swear I'll protect you with my life."

The group walked forwards; looking for any signs of Joe or his kidnapper. The ground was uneven and rocky, making progress frustratingly slow.

The trees around them never seemed to thin out, almost as if they were moving in circles. But above all there was no sound beyond the infrequent patter of their feet on the rocks.

"Did you guys see that?!" hissed Yolei. "Something moved in the fog."

"I didn't see anything," Kari responded. "Gatomon?"

"Nope," the champion replied. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing moving anywhere near us."

"I know I saw something!"

"Whoa, what was that?!" Davis suddenly yelled, pointing. "Something moved over there!"

"I don't see anything," Veemon replied, peering into the gloom. "You sure you're not imagining things?"

"Guys, what if something is closing in on us?" Iori shivered.

"I'll get em, Cody," Armadillomon said, standing protectively in front of his partner. "Just watch."

"There's nothing there," Gatomon replied sternly. "Trust me, I know."

"This isn't working," Tk said, grabbing his digivice. "Someone should fly above the fog and see if they can spot anything. Ready, Patamon?"

"Always!"

Nothing.

"Come on, digivolve!" Tk commanded, shaking his digivice. "Digivolve!"

But Patamon just stood there and shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, Tk," he said, his ears drooping.

"There must be a tower nearby," Kari noted awkwardly.

"Obviously!" Tk spat, glaring at his digivice as Kari backed away.

"Hey, don't talk to Kari like that!" Davis yelled.

"Oh what would you know, Davis?!"

"More than you, you asshole! Right, Kari?!"

"I," Kari hesitated, but fell silent.

"Would you just let them sort it out, Davis?!" Yolei said, pulling Davis away by his shoulder. "They need to get over this!"

"Get over what?!" Davis argued. "Tk's being a jerk for no reason!"

"Are you blind?!" Yolei yelled back. "Have you not noticed at all what's been happening?! I guess anything that doesn't involve your personal little fantasy goes unnoticed!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, you harpy!"

"Of course you don't!" Yolei threw up her hands. "You never do!"

"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" Kari roared.

She stood there panting as everyone stared at her.

"Just-, Iori have Pteramon scout things out," Kari decided. "Can you do that?"

"No problem," Armadillomon responded.

"If we find the tower we'll probably find Joe," Kari decided. "The rest of you just, leave your arguments for when we get back, ok?"

"Kari's right," Iori agreed. "We're supposed to be Chosen. Not a bunch of argumentative children."

"Joe is counting on us to get him out of here," Kari continued, before any of the others could say anything. "And we've been through too much for me to just let him die here!"

Tk visibly calmed himself down.

"Fine," he said. "I'll just stand here then."

Davis and Yolei both nodded, but refused to look at each other. There was a flash of red light and Pteramon shot upwards into the sky.

Kari felt her head begin to throb. She felt Gatomon lay a hand on her knee and gave her a grateful smile.

"Maybe we should go back," she whispered to the champion. "We're not cut out for this. We'll get Tai and the others to do something."

"It might be too late by then," Gatomon pointed out, hopping onto her shoulder. "And if there's a spire near here they won't be much help either."

"But look at us, Gatomon," Kari breathed, eyes darting around in the fog that seemed to get thicker by the second. "The others never fought like this. I might just get us all killed or captured by the Emperor!"

It was getting harder to breathe. Like something invisible was pushing in on her from all directions.

"That's not the Kari who saved us in the maze. Be strong, you're doing well. I know we can get Joe back."

Everyone was going to die. They would be lost in here forever, arguing with each other because she couldn't stop them.

"Kari? Kari, what's wrong?"

She couldn't do this, she couldn't do this, she couldn't do this, she couldn't do this.

 _"-ve us…"_

Kari started. Her eyes darted about.

There were things. Shadows moving around them. They flitted in and out of the fog, ghostly and unseen by the others.

 _"-ight…"_

They were turning. All looking directly at her. Countless pinprick eyes staring straight through her. They staggered closer.

 _"-you see…"_

The whispers seemed to crawl inside her skull. Kari clutched her hands over her ears but it was no use. It was beyond noise.

 _"-waiting for…"_

"Kari!"

Suddenly Gatomon's face was in front of her and all she could see. A soothing pink light emanated between them. Kari closed her eyes and let the warmth of her crest envelop the both of them.

As her senses returned, she became aware of something else. Something sinister flickering at the edges of her vision.

"Something's wrong with this place," Kari said, a new strength in her voice. "We should find Joe and leave as soon as possible."

"Um, Kari?" Tk spoke up.

It was then she realised that the others were all staring at her.

"Are you… alright?"

He looked so shocked, so concerned. For a moment she almost forgot she was annoyed at him.

"This place is more dangerous than we realised," Kari explained. "As soon as Pteramon returns we'll get out of here."

She still felt uneasy, but those voices… They were familiar.

The sound of powerful jet engines filled the air. As if summoned by his name, Pteramon himself landed among him.

"Pteramon," Iori greeted relieved. "What did you see?"

"We have to get out of here!" the digimon said. "Now! There's not much time! Just, get above the fog now!"

* * *

The Emperor stood on the metal walkway, proudly watching over his minion's progress as they tirelessly toiled away far beneath him.

The heat inside was incredible and the noise ungodly; but it was easily worth a short visit just to check up on the forging. It wouldn't be long now before all of the digital world was bowing before him and he chuckled at the very thought.

Next to him, the sweating and trembling form of Wormmon stood as best he could in the intense heat. He stared down at the sight below him with dread. He loved his partner, against all reason many would say, but with this latest project the Emperor's ultimate goal was finally within sight.

"Isn't it beautiful, Wormmon?" the Emperor spoke, gesturing downwards. "The perfection of the Dark Spirals was child's play compared to this beauty. Sometimes I amaze even myself."

"Master, don't you think you should be getting some rest?" Wormmon suggested gently. "I mean it'll still be here tomorrow; you don't need to stay here personally to oversee it."

As he spoke, he saw his master's fists clench and braced himself for another outburst.

"I don't need any rest," the Emperor responded, tone cold as death. "Do not presume you know what is better for me than I do again, Wormmon."

"I won't, sir," Wormmon said miserably as his master turned back towards the hell unfolding below.

At least the Emperor rarely whipped him anymore. What was once almost a daily occurrence hadn't occurred since he digivolved to Stingmon. With a heavy heart, the little rookie could admit that the Emperor respected power and nothing else.

"I'd like to see that peon stop this," he heard his master mumble, clenching the railing hard with his gloved hands.

Wormmon immediately knew who he was talking about.

The only one who had ever laid a hand on him.

He could even see the ghost of his partner's face underneath those ridiculous glasses, eyes narrowed with intense focus and teeth grinding together hard enough to hurt. If there was one thing he could thank that boy for, it was letting him see his partner's face for the first time in so long.

The sudden clanging of heavy footsteps on the walkway shocked Wormmon out of his reverie.

"My Emperor," a deep voice growled.

"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" the Emperor snarled as he turned towards the digimon that had just appeared.

"My apologies, but a human was found skulking in the forest."

"What?! That's impossible! How could they know? How could they get here?!"

"Maybe they used one of the gates that you missed, my master?" Wormmon suggested.

"Obviously! Now be silent!"

"We captured him and he and now he awaits processing," the beast stated.

"Hmm, where there's one insect there's usually more," the Emperor mused, an excited smile on his face. Let's go say hello to our guest. Then we'll find uproot the rock his little friends are hiding under."

His smile stretched wider.

"Activate the vent," he ordered. "Then begin the hunt."

* * *

They all stared in horror at the sight below all of them. It had been impossible to see, but now it looked so obvious.

Davis swallowed nervously at the literal forest of Control Spires that now lay underneath them all. Above the fog that permeated the area like a thick soup, the tops of the spires were the only visible part. It reminded him of old war movies; of countless rows of bayonets marching in line.

Davis steeled himself, but the forest extended as far as the eye could see in every direction. In the distance a huge shadow could be seen, it looked like a range of mountains.

He was tucked under FlyBeemon's arm along with Yolei and Veemon. Pteramon was carrying the others and they were all staring down in horror.

"Th-There's no way we can destroy all of them," Yolei realised, shivering.

"Looks like MagnaAngemon isn't coming out any time soon," Tk muttered, despondent.

There was a look in the blonde's eyes that Davis had never seen before. For the first time since ever coming to the digital world, Davis felt unsettled.

"Hey, what kind of talk is that?!" he yelled. "We'll find a way. The Emperor hasn't beaten us yet! Right, guys?"

There was nothing but silence.

"Right, Davis," Kari agreed, her voice unwaveringly steady as she glared down at the countless towers.

"Maybe we should find out where Joe is being held?" Iori suggested. "I think a fight down there wouldn't end well."

"There are digimon around the mountain," Pteramon said. "As well as some other buildings, I didn't dare get too close. If Joe was taken anywhere it would probably be there."

"Then that's where we should go!" Davis cried out.

As if it was responding to this challenge, there was suddenly deep rumbling coming from the mountain. The ground below them seemed to shake and a horrible smell filled the air.

A colossal column of fire exploded out of the mountain top. It sustained itself for several seconds, before vanishing upwards into the dark sky.

"What the hell was that?!" Yolei yelled. "Is that a volcano?!"

"I hope not," Tk said, staring at the mountain.

"Something's coming towards us!" Gatomon hollered. "We need to move!"

A shriek made them covered their ears as a long serpentine shape slithered straight towards them. It beat its wings and catapulted itself towards them. Pteramon and FlyBeemon darted to the side as it flew past.

It turned around, mad red eyes locked on to the children riding on top of Pteramon.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Yolei screamed as it tore after Pteramon.

"That's Airdramon," FlyBeemon explained, eyes narrowed. "He's a champion. Damn, I can't fight while holding you two!"

"Then it's up to us!" Davis declared, taking out his digivice. "Veemon!"

"About time!" the rookie cheered, leaping into the air.

There was a flash of orange light and Flamedramon appeared, brandishing his claws with a smirk on his face.

He then plummeted downwards, screaming.

"Davis, he can't fly!" Yolei stared bug-eyed after Flamedramon as he fell.

"Err…" Davis said nervously.

The armour recovered gracefully. Aiming carefully, he landed on top of one of the Control Spires and balanced himself on top.

"Didn't really think that through," he admitted, before staring upwards into the sky.

He could just barely make out Pteramon barely staying ahead of the Airdramon. It pursued them relentlessly, snapping its teeth after them.

"Hold on, guys!" he said, getting ready to jump.

He aimed carefully.

"Fire Rocket!" he bellowed.

The Control Spire exploded with the force of his leap. Flames enveloped him as he flew upwards like a burning missile.

He arced through the air and with unerring precision slammed into the bottom of the Airdramon's jaw.

The champion reeled from the surprise blow and flew off course. Flamedramon fell back down and landed on top of another Control Spire.

"That's right!" he roared out in challenge. "Do you want some more?!"

The Airdramon howled, completely forgetting about its previous target and dove towards Flamedramon.

This was a mistake.

"Missile Storm!" Pteramon cried out, missiles flying out from underneath his wings.

The missiles struck the champion from behind and he slammed into the Control Spires below. Several collapsed underneath its weight and for a couple of seconds only the sound of collapsing metal could be heard. Soon its screeching ceased and the forest became silent once more.

"Good job, Pteramon," Iori said, clearly shaken. "That got scary for a minute."

"What did I tell you, Iori?" his partner reminded him playfully. "You ain't got nothing to worry about."

"Well the Emperor probably knows we're here now," Tk noted. "Maybe we should get going?"

"Towards the mountain?" Kari clarified. "If we've lost the element of surprise then things won't be easy-,"

She stopped, staring in horror at the mountain.

"Kari? Kari what's the matter?" Yolei asked, before turning to look.

Her jaw dropped.

A vile black mist now seemed to be covering the mountain and heading towards them. It was large enough to easily clear the Spire Forest below them and was only growing larger. The cloud seemed to roll over itself like a huge wheel, relentlessly coming after them.

They hadn't seen it creep up on them, busy as they were. It bellowed like a beast as it bared down on all of them, covering every direction with a swiftness unnatural for its size.

"Hang on!" FlyBeemon yelled as he tried to fly further upwards and out of its way.

"Flamedramon's still down there!" Davis protested.

"Don't worry about me, just go!" his partner declared, looking at his partner with a grin.

FlyBeemon turned around and Davis lost sight of his partner. The sudden rush of wind forced his breath back into his mouth and he found he'd lost his voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Davis saw Pteramon similarly flying in another direction in order to avoid the smog coming at them.

The cloud was so thick it seemed to have a physical presence. Pteramon's wing dipped briefly beneath it and the poor digimon spun out of control.

Davis could do nothing but watch as Pteramon was swallowed completely by the cloud and didn't resurface.

"NO!" he screamed, finding his breath, but FlyBeemon kept climbing.

But even now he could see they weren't going to make it.

The cloud struck them like a physical blow and the armour digimon was sent tumbling back down to the ground. Davis tumbled with him with only feeling of the armour's hand to centre him.

His eyes burned as he rolled and span around and around. He felt as if his body was stretching itself before he suddenly stopped and everything went dark.

* * *

 **A/N: First of all, I'd like to apologise for the delay in this chapter. Things have been so busy and then I spotted a major flaw in the plot I wrote up and had to change it, then I got even more busy, etc.**

 **Thank you to everyone still interested in this story. I can't promise regular updates but know that it isn't abandoned. Your support does mean a lot and I'm very grateful for it.**

 **For those of you who are interested, I'm hoping to update The Mad Professor next. So that'll be something to look forward to at some point in the future.**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you thought.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 10: Proving

**A/N: Well it's been a long time everybody! Things have been predictably busy for me and so I haven't had much time to write. There's really no other excuse, so I guess we'll just get on with it.  
**

 **Please let me know what you think.**

* * *

 **Proving**

Joe groaned as he slowly woke up. It was dark and he was lying face-down on a cold, hard floor he immediately identified as solid rock. Ignoring his aches and pains he took a quick look around. A small amount of light was emitting through a window in one of the walls. It illuminated the otherwise featureless cell in depressing shades of darkness. Sitting up, he patted himself down to make sure he had everything. Glasses still on his nose, phone dead in his pocket, crest around his neck and digivice clipped to his belt.

At least the annoying little device had stopped beeping for the moment. He didn't know if he could take that in addition to his headache. No not a headache - a pain in the back of his head. He had been knocked out!

He quickly felt the back of his head. There didn't feel like any lumps and it didn't seem to be bleeding either. Joe also felt perfectly lucid and wasn't feeling dizzy or any nausea, so he could probably rule out a concussion.

Not for the first time, Joe cursed his damn digivice. Damn thing just couldn't leave him alone. Started beeping out of nowhere, making an absolute racket, then he must have gotten too close to a computer or something because next thing he knew he was in the middle of a dark forest. From what Tai had said that beeping seemed to indicate that Gomamon was in deep trouble, so as soon as he figure out how to get out of here he would go find his partner. Joe squinted in the dark and could just about make out the smooth walls of the place he was in.

'I'm in a cell, aren't I?' he thought to himself, not feeling particularly surprised. 'The question is: who captured me?'

At that exact moment one of the walls slid down into the floor, flooding the cell with a bright light. Joe shielded his eyes. Between his fingers, he could see several menacing figures approach him, followed by that of one much smaller one.

"On your knees!" one of the digimon declared, knocking Joe forwards onto his knees. "The Emperor wishes to speak to you."

'Ask a stupid question…' Joe thought, more than a little annoyed as the digimon put an arm on his shoulder, preventing him from rising.

The child-like figure approached him upon seeing he was restrained. As his eyes adapted to the lighting, Joe could finally lay eyes on this so-called Emperor. All he could do was gawk. The kid's costume was so garish, how did anyone take him seriously?

The weight on his shoulder suddenly made itself known, forcing him to bow.

'Oh, that's how,' Joe thought surly, trying to get a better look at the kid from his new angle on the floor. 'He really couldn't look more dramatic if he tried. Maybe if Mimi got a go at him…'

He shivered at the thought.

The Emperor smirked at Joe's reaction.

"I see there are even more of you vermin than I had initially suspected," he spoke, his voice so much higher-pitched than expected Joe had to bite his lip to not snigger. "If you tell me why it is you're here then I might be lenient on you. If not… well, my servant here is pretty proficient with his club."

It seemed almost like a great cosmic joke to Joe. Obviously, something out there was laughing at his misfortune. After having faced down real monsters like Myotismon, Apocalymon and even Armageddemon, a twelve-year old child - even one backed up by a couple of champion digimon – just simply wasn't intimidating.

'Calm down, Joe,' the teen thought to himself. 'Just because he's young doesn't mean he's not dangerous. Better not let him know about Gomamon. He's either been captured as well or is hiding somewhere nearby.'

"I don't know," Joe replied, cautiously sitting up. "One moment I was in my room, the next I was here."

"A likely story," the Emperor sneered, leaning in. "Where there's one of you, there's always more scurrying around nearby like the insects you are. What are you here for? Where are the rest of you and how many did you bring?"

That was a good question, Joe realised. The others would have no idea where he went. He had been on his way to a meeting with Izzy, if they couldn't get in touch with him they might assume he was in the digital world. But they would have no way of finding him! How long had he been unconscious?

Joe was slammed down onto the floor, hard enough for him to cry out.

"Answer me when I speak to you, worm!" the Emperor snarled.

Joe grit his teeth in pain.

"I don't know where the others are," he replied honestly. "Probably back home."

"Nice try," the Emperor declared, signalling the champion to hoist Joe up to a sitting position. "But we already know that some are nearby and I have my greatest servant hunting for them. It seems you can't be trusted to tell the truth, what a surprise. Where's the device you came in from located?"

Some of them were nearby? Had they already come to help him?

"Look I don't know, I told you I was sucked in accidentally- argh!"

The Emperor laughed as Joe was slammed to the ground again. Gasping for breath, Joe spat out some blood and slowly, angrily, pushed himself back up.

"What is the point in all this?! What even is this place? What's with all the fog that was down below? Why are you doing all this?"

"So many questions," the Emperor mused. "However, they're not ones I'm interested in, Fugamon?"

This time Joe braced himself as he was slammed to the floor yet again. Anger rose within the older boy and he couldn't stop himself from speaking up again.

"Tell me kid," Joe said through gritted teeth. "Those glasses you're wearing; do you know what the symbol on them means?"

The Emperor laughed.

"Meaning?" he spoke languidly, his smile widening. "It's just a little something I threw together. Whatever meaning you insects put on it is entirely in your heads."

'Yeah, there's no way it's a coincidence,' Joe realised. 'He must be being manipulated. Although I don't really feel sorry for him at the moment.'

"What is it that you get out of this?" Joe hissed, glaring up at the Emperor as he managed to bring himself up again. "Why do you hurt these digimon?!"

"Because it's fun!" the Emperor answered, leaning down in front of Joe's face with a simple smile. "And hurt them? You idiots truly are pathetic. These creatures don't have feelings. They're just data. They're no more capable of feelings then your computer!"

Joe gaped. What was wrong with this kid? How could he possibly believe that?

"Are you serious?" he asked. "How can you possibly think that?! Haven't you seen them laugh like us? Haven't you seen them cry like us?"

Behind his glasses the Emperor rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, have you never played a computer game before? Of course they can mimic human emotions, they're computer programs! It would be boring if they couldn't. Honestly, even then I was beginning to get bored before you all showed up. Now this game is much more fun!"

"It is real!" Joe argued. "They are real! They have feelings and hopes and dreams just like us! I've been doing this for longer than you and there's no doubt! Don't you have a partner? Are they just a computer program as well?!"

"Yes, you simpleton," the Emperor responded as if talking to a small child. "If you fools can't even grasp that simple concept then I doubt there's anything useful you can tell me."

Joe realised he was breathing hard. It was taking everything he had not to scream himself hoarse. His fists were shaking with rage at the ignorant words of this-this child!

"I see," Joe said, his voice like a thin sheet of ice. "I guess there's no helping you then. Kid, for your sake, I _really_ hope you reconsider. Because when you lose, you'll have to face what you've done."

"As if," the Emperor muttered, having lost interest. "Throw him back in. Let him rot in here."

The Fugamon -the resemblance to Ogremon was making Joe's blood boil- immediately threw Joe back into the jail. He hit the far wall with a cry of pain as the other wall came down, leaving Joe alone in his cell.

* * *

"Davis!?" Kari called out into the fog in vain. "Yolei!? Are either of you two out there?! Flamedramon?! FlyBeemon?!"

Her voice echoed amongst the countless Control Spires before being swallowed up and returning only empty silence. Gatomon stood nearby, ears pricked for any unexpected noises, but so far hadn't found anything either.

"I don't think they landed nearby," Tk reasoned, looking around worriedly. "But we are at least closer to the mountain."

Much closer in fact. They were very near the base of the volcano, most likely less than a half hours walk away. After they had woken up on the ground and checked to make sure they weren't injured, they hadn't wasted anytime in trying to find the others.

"What should we do?" Iori asked, looking at Kari. "We don't know where the exit is anymore."

As much as Kari hated to admit it, Iori was right. This impromptu trip had become a complete disaster. Joe had been kidnapped, Davis, Yolei and their partners were missing and they had no idea where the exit was. The Emperor almost certainly knew they were here and who knew what sorts of forces he could have coming their way.

What should they do? What could they do?

… _you can't save us-_

"Kari," Gatomon put a paw on her partner's knee, bringing her back to reality. "It's ok, calm down."

"I-I'm fine," Kari said quickly, realising she had been hyperventilating. "I'm fine, thank Gatomon."

They'd been here far too long; this place was beginning to get to her again. The others were relying on her to lead them. She couldn't let them down.

"We can't go back," she said carefully, reasoning to the others and to herself. "We'll just waste looking for the others, especially if they're looking for us as well."

They're fine, Davis and Yolei are fine. She had to trust that they were looking after themselves just fine.

"B-but we can't just leave them!" Iori stammered. "What if they're hurt?"

"It's impossible to find them in this fog," Gatomon agreed. "We're just making ourselves a more obvious target for whatever the Emperor sends out next."

Kari nodded, glad for her partner's agreement.

"Then what should we do?" Tk questioned, folding his arms. "If we're not going to search for the others, that is."

"When you can't go backwards, you go forwards," Kari replied confidently, pointing towards the dark mass. "We'll move onwards to the volcano and scout it out."

"That's the Emperor's base, isn't it?" Tk said, eyes wide as he stared at Kari. "That's suicide!"

"It's either that or wait for the Emperor to find us," Kari responded, eyes narrowing. "Plus, Joe's in there somewhere and we need to rescue him."

"Even if we do find him, what can we do?" Tk asked. "With all these Control Spires here we'll just get captured as well! We're defenceless!"

"We're not defenceless, Tk!" Kari argued thoughtlessly. "Gatomon and Armadillomon can both-"

She stopped at the look of fury on his face, afraid to say it.

"Go ahead, Kari," Tk said, eyes narrowed and hands balled into fists. "Just say it, I know you want to. Say how we're of no help at all!"

"I wasn't going to say that!"

"Yeah, sure you weren't," Tk added bitterly. "I understand, Kari. We're absolutely no help and never will be, just say it!"

"Fine, be like that," Kari spat, red in the face and having reached the end of her patience. "I don't know what your problem is, Tk, but if you just want to just sit here then fine, you're welcome to it! I'm going to go rescue Joe! Come on, Iori."

With that, Kari turned around and stomped off towards the volcano. Gatomon gave Tk a disapproving look before silently following her partner. Iori gave Tk an apologetic glance before moving to follow her.

"Tk," Patamon prompted gently. "She didn't mean anything by it. You shouldn't just let them go off like that."

"I-I know," Tk said.

"Just because we can't digivolve now doesn't mean we're useless, Tk," Patamon continued softly.

"I know," Tk repeated, clenching his fists. "I just- I don't know!"

With a groan he ran after the others. It didn't take long for him to catch up. Kari gave no indication that she had noticed, but Iori gave him a small smile.

It was after nearly twenty minutes of walking in awkward silence before they came to the end of the Spire forest and reached the foot of the volcano.

"Get down!" Gatomon hissed, as they all laid low and hid behind one of the towers. "Look!"

What looked like numerous digimon in chains, Kari counted roughly twenty, were being escorted by what looked like four off-colour Ogremon. There was an opening about two stories tall that seemed to lead into the volcano.

"Fugamon," Gatomon identified. "They're champion digimon, though not particularly strong ones."

"The prisoners already have dark rings on them," Tk noted. "We should wait for them to pass."

"Hmm," Kari murmured thoughtfully. "They're mostly rookies though… Gatomon, is anyone else nearby?"

"Not as far as I can tell."

"Kari, we can't fight them!" Tk said alarmed. "There's way too many!"

"I'm not planning on fighting them," Kari answered stiffly, her now-pink digivice in hand. "Oryxmon just happens to have a very useful ability for this sort of situation."

She made eye-contact with Gatomon and the champion's eyes lit up at the very familiar grin on her partner's face. Iori and Tk merely looked confused.

The champion quickly backed away to hide the glow from the digivolution and within a few moments, Oryxmon was standing before them.

"Cover your ears," the armour-level digimon stated, before turning towards the prisoners. "Mystic bell!"

Kari couldn't keep the smile off her face as the sound reverberated across the clearing and swept over the enslaved digimon. Within moments the whole ensemble, guards and all, had fallen to the floor, asleep. Tk and Iori were open-mouthed.

"Now let's shatter those rings before they wake up," Kari whispered, running forwards with Oryxmon. "Start with the champions; those are the greatest threat."

Iori looked relieved that no one would have to get hurt this time and ran forwards with Armadillomon. Tk simply stood there watching silently.

After a few tense minutes every digimon had their rings removed and were quickly shaken awake. Oryxmon kept watch while Kari told the nervous-looking digimon what was happening.

"We're infiltrating the Emperor's base to rescue our friend," she explained. "We should be able to produce enough chaos so he won't be able to chase you."

"After all, he'll be too busy dealing with us!" Armadillomon declared confidently.

"Thank you," one of the Floramon exclaimed. "We won't forget this."

With that, the formerly enslaved digimon began to run away from the volcano, towards the Spire forest. Kari smiled after the group, silently wishing them luck. Then her vision was filled with orange and she started at the four champions looming over her. Oryxmon was beside her in an instant, a protective shadow.

"Madam," the lead Fugamon began, respectfully bowing. "Thank you for freeing us from that monster's control. This volcano was our home once and we can lead you through the caverns. Please allow us to assist you."

"Oh, err-sure," Kari replied lamely. "You can help us. We can use as much help as we can get."

"Do any of you know what the Emperor's doing here?" Iori piped up. "Or what was up with that strange smoke that separated us?"

The Fugamon looked at one another, before the lead one stepped forwards again, addressing Kari.

"The Emperor,"-he spat on the ground- "Is constructing something very large within the volcano and produces that gas as a by-product. That's all we know."

"Hmm," Kari said. "Whatever it is, it can wait until we rescue Joe. Now that we have a bit more muscle and with Oryxmon here, we can get in easy."

Everyone gathered round as she began to explain her battle plan.

* * *

Davis groaned as he slowly came to. He was lying on the cold ground in the Spire Forest and his limbs were aching like after he got slide-tackled at his last soccer game. Knowing that these were each Control Spires and not just weird trees made the entire forest seem far more sinister. He sat up slowly and looked around. Flamedramon was nowhere in sight and an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. He wasn't alone though.

"Yolei!" he cried, running over to where the girl was lying along with Hawkmon. "Come on, wake up!"

He shook her as hard as he dared, until she began to move. Yolei blinked sleepily at him, her glasses askew.

"Wh-wha? Davis?" Yolei murmured a note of panic in her voice as she sat up. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"I don't know," he answered. "That smoke must have separated us. Flamedramon isn't nearby either."

"Hawkmon," Yolei began to gently shake her partner. "Hawkmon wake up."

"I apologise, Miss Yolei," Hawkmon said as he woke up, she noticed he looked a bit more bruised than before. "I was not able to protect you."

"Oh shut up," Yolei said kindly, hugging him. "We're all alive thanks to you, you did great."

"Where are the others though?" Davis wondered, feeling strangely vulnerable without Veemon around. "Yo, Flamedramon! You out there?! Hello!"

His voice echoed amongst the Spires. There was no indication of movement and the fog was so thick they couldn't see any further than a few Spires away.

"This is bad," Yolei said. "We should head back to the TV and hope the others are there."

"We can't just leave them!" Davis protested, immediately facing Yolei.

"Davis, we only have Hawkmon to protect us," Yolei argued. "We need to find the others or go and get help!"

"But Flamedramon should be around here somewhere! Flamedramon!"

"Davis, sir," Hawkmon piped up. "Maybe you should monitor your volume carefully. I fear the Emperor may still have servants after us."

"And if he has we'll need Flamedramon to fight them," Davis argued, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Flamedramon!"

No response.

"Er, Davis I really think we should be quiet," Yolei said, looking around nervously as the shadows of the spires around them seemed to grow longer.

"If we're quiet, Flamedramon won't find us!" Davis protested. "Hey, can FlyBeemon fly up high and get a look at the area? Maybe he can see Flamedramon?"

"It's worth a shot," Yolei agreed. "See if you can find any idea of where we are as well!"

Within a moment Hawkmon digivolved once more to form FlyBeemon. The armoured digimon nodded to the two before shooting off upwards into the mist and leaving them alone.

Davis and Yolei stood there awkwardly.

"So um…" Davis began. "What sort of clubs are you in? I'm on the soccer club!"

"I know, you've said," Yolei responded, folding her arms. "But is now really the time?"

"Just trying to chat," Davis muttered, idly kicking the dirt.

What was her problem? Why was she always so hostile towards him? He thought back, but Davis couldn't think of ever saying anything rude.

He looked around nervously. His partner's continued absence was really beginning to worry him. The Control Spire forest was huge, Flamedramon could have been blown anywhere. It was strange, since Davis had met his partner he hadn't been really been separated from Veemon for this long before. Even though he'd only known the digimon for a few days he felt strangely lonely without the little guy around.

"Miss Yolei, Miss Yolei!" FlyBeemon cried flying back down excitedly. "I recognise the positions of some of the fallen towers! We're very close to where we came in!"

Yolei's face lit up.

"Yes!" she smiled. "Take us there!"

"Hang on, what about the others? What about Flamedramon?"

"I couldn't see any sign of them," FlyBeemon admitted. "But there are some more Airdramon flying about. I know which direction to go!"

Yolei turned to him.

"Come on, Davis," she pleaded. "I know you don't want to leave Flamedramon, but the older kids can help! They'll know what to do!"

"I'm not going to abandon him, Yolei!" Davis argued.

"It is possible he is waiting for us there or thereabouts," FlyBeemon interjected, before things could get too heated. "If I recall, he was closest before we were all blown away. I feel there can be no harm in checking to see if he is there."

Davis considered this for a moment.

"Fine," he said reluctantly. "But if he's not there then I'm not leaving."

With a tentative agreement reached, FlyBeemon began to lead them towards the exit. As they continued to walk the ever-present mist around them seemed to shift. The atmosphere was changing. The fog seemed to press down on them with as strange pressure, making it harder to breathe. It was almost as if the air itself was alive and was slowly trying to crush them. Sweat dripped from Yolei's brow and Davis' eyes began to dart around nervously.

FlyBeemon began to breathe heavily as the mist seemed to thicken. Within a few moments they were close to the small clearing of Spires that marked the television they came through. The armoured digimon, motioned for them to stop.

"Something's there," he spoke as quietly as he could.

"I can't see anything," Davis said, peering into the mist. "Was it Flamedramon?"

He could just about make out the shadow of the television where they came in, but the clearing was otherwise obscured by the damn fog.

"I don't know; it moved too quickly for me to get a good look."

"Let's be careful," Yolei decided.

FlyBeemon went first, cautiously walking towards the television with the two children right behind him. Nothing happened.

Step by step they crept closer. Still no movement from any side. The shadows of the spires remain unchanging. Moment after moment went by as they moved closer. Almost there. Nothing continued to happen.

They were within arm's reach.

Yolei crouched down, hand on her digivice and ready to go home.

A low growl reverberated through the clearing. FlyBeemon stood in front of the children, eyes moving wildly. Davis and Yolei shivered at the sound. Animalistic and rough, it made their hair rise and hearts scream.

A dark shape, slightly larger than Flamedramon, was leisurely walking through the fog towards them.

Without warning, FlyBeemon grabbed the two children and began to fly.

"Lightning sting!" he cried out, firing at the shadowed figure below them.

The creature blocked the attack and drew back an arm. The children didn't even have time to scream before the sound of something smashing could be heard behind them.

"T-the TV!" Yolei's face was a mask of horror. "It smashed it!"

"W-we aren't gonna fight?!" Davis screamed as they continued to shoot through the air.

"Not risking it!" FlyBeemon yelled back, as they climbed higher and higher. "That digimon is dangerous!"

"Look out!" Yolei hollered.

Impossibly, the dark shape was in front of them. Crouched on top of one of the spires it leapt towards them.

FlyBeemon cursed and dropped down, barely avoiding its lunge.

"Lightning Sting!" he yelled, firing after its falling form.

The attack struck true, hitting the figure and briefly lighting it up. In the brief flash, Davis saw the Dark Spiral on its forearm and the feral look in its eyes.

The figure somersaulted in the air, unaffected by the attack and jumped off another Spire to come after them.

"It can't fly!" Yolei realised. "It can only move in straight lines as it jumps!"

"Just fly higher then!" Davis yelled.

"Then we'll be attacked by more Airdramon!" Yolei yelled back. "FlyBeemon, stay near the top of the spires, but still in the fog!"

"Right!"

FlyBeemon did his best. Weaving in and out of the spires whilst avoiding the incredibly fast -but predictable- movements of their pursuer was no easy task. The spires shot past them at a dizzying rate. It was worse than being on a rollercoaster.

"LEFT!" Davis screamed.

They shot to the left, barely avoiding the spires and a spirited leap from their pursuer.

"RIGHT!"

Again, a close shave.

"RIGH-NO LEFT!"

Too late.

They clipped the side of a tower and span upside down. They all screamed as the ground approached and FlyBeemon spun to put himself first. The dark shape shot down after them, right in the armoured digimon's sights.

"Lightning Sting!"

With a thunder-like crash, the attack slammed into their plummeting opponent, who guarded with his arms, knocking him backwards into a nearby spire.

FlyBeemon had no further time to celebrate as they slammed into the ground and skipped like a stone on a pond.

Immediately, FlyBeemon got to his feet, cradling the two children worriedly.

"Are you two alright?" he asked, panicked.

"S-somehow," Yolei stammered, the world still spinning.

"Never better," Davis gurgled, trying to stand up but falling over in nausea.

The sound of two feet slamming into the dirt nearby made the three look up. Their opponent, arms still smoking slightly, stood up straight and began to walk slowly towards them.

"You two, run!" FlyBeemon ordered, standing between them and the enemy. "I'll hold him off!"

"FlyBeemon!" Yolei cried out as her partner charged.

"Lightning Sting!" he cried, firing straight at the Dark Spiral.

With a casual flick of his arm, the enemy deflected the blow into the ground. FlyBeemon darted around, circling the digimon and firing again and again. The enemy didn't even retaliate, blocking every strike with the same arm repeatedly.

'Wait,' Davis realised. 'It's blocking with the arm that doesn't have the Dark Spiral attached. Did we damage it earlier?'

Before he could act on that thought, the opponent moved.

With movement that seemed effortless, an outstretched claw slammed into FlyBeemon. The poor digimon was knocked straight through a nearby spire and into the next.

"FlyBeemon!" Yolei yelled as her partner stopped moving.

With a growl, their opponent turned towards the two of them.

"Uh oh," Davis took a wary step back. "Did you have to get its attention?!"

Its patience having waned, the creature began to run towards the two of them. There wasn't time to move, or even to scream as the creature bared down on them. They could see the bloodlust in its blank eyes, in the rabid foam in its mouth. It was the end.

"Fire Rocket!"

Like a meteor in shining armour, Flamedramon slammed into the left of the creature, hurtling it off course. Their enemy slammed into a nearby control spire as Flamedramon stood protectively in front of the two children.

"Flamedramon, you're alright!" Davis resisted the temptation to hug his partner. "Oh buddy, you can eat as much of my food at dinner as you want!"

"Good to see you too, Davis!" Flamedramon greeted with a smirk, eyes on the enemy.

For about a second.

"Wait, as much as I want?!" he turned to Davis incredulously.

"Flamedramon!" Yolei screeched, pointing.

The armour turned back just in time to see the enemy burst out of the wreckage and charge straight at them.

"Hold on!" he grabbed the two and jumped, barely avoiding the charge.

The enemy slammed into the spire behind them hard enough to collapse it.

"Damn, this thing's like that Tankdramon!" Flamedramon declared as he put the two kids down. "Did my charge even hurt him?"

"He has a Dark Spiral on his left arm!" Davis pointed. "Aim for that!"

"I think you've already damaged the spiral," Yolei added. "It's not moving as fast as it was."

"That's not as fast as it was?!" Flamedramon yelled in disbelief as the rubble began to move. "Oh crap, this thing's got to be ultimate, at least."

"I've got an idea," Yolei declared, pointing. "Lure it over that direction."

"What, why?" Flamedramon asked. "What's over there?"

"You'll see, just be ready to aim for its spiral!"

With a roar their opponent burst out of the rubble. Flamedramon darted sideways, shooting balls of fire.

"Over here, ugly!" he yelled.

The ultimate growled and shot after him. Flamedramon sweated as the enemy gained horribly quickly on him.

"Fire Rocket!" he called out, firing numerous balls of fire.

The enemy just ignored them, smashing through the attack without even slowing down. Flamedramon grimaced.

"That's fast, that's fast, that's-really-fast!" he screamed, sprinting past a couple of downed control spires with the enemy right behind him.

"Lightning Sting!"

Lightning shot across the side aiming for the Dark Spiral from FlyBeemon who stood there hiding behind the Spire. The enemy turned to shield his arm, and Flamedramon saw his opportunity.

"Fire Rocket!" a single ball of fire erupted out of his gauntlet and straight into the Dark Spiral on the digimon's arm.

The digimon roared as bits of the Dark Spiral shattered and fell off. The enemy clutched at its head in pain.

"You got it!" Davis cheered.

"No wait, look!" Yolei pointed.

The Dark Spiral was still attached, but a large chunk of it had been blasted off.

"He must have made them tougher since last time," Yolei noted. "You'll have to blast it again!"

"One more hit should do it!" Flamedramon decided, lighting up his gauntlets.

But he didn't get the chance. The ground beneath the enemy exploded as he sprinted away. The spires themselves quaked as he shot past them and into the mist.

Stunned disbelief descended on the four of them.

"H-he ran away?!" Davis yelled. "Hey get back here and fight, coward!"

"Pl-please don't," FlyBeemon moaned, as he fell onto his knees. "I can't take another hit like that."

"Hey, are you alright?" Flamedramon grabbed his downed comrade as Davis and Yolei ran to them.

"Yeah, it barely touched me," FlyBeemon groaned and only now could they see the spider web of cracks in his armour that had spread from the side where the blow had landed. "We were lucky. That thing was monstrously strong."

"Hey, we won, right?" Davis argued, smiling at Flamedramon proudly. "We kicked its butt, no problem!"

"Davis, what if it comes back?" Yolei pointed out. "There's no way we can beat it again."

"Why not? We nearly knocked its spiral off just now. The Emperor may have made them tougher but we can do it again, easy."

As if to prove her right, there was a purple glow and suddenly Flamedramon was holding an exhausted Poromon.

"Sorry, Miss Yolei," the little in-training squeaked.

"It's alright, little guy," she smiled, taking him from Flamedramon. "You did great against, er… what was that digimon anyway?"

"I don't know," Flamedramon said. "I didn't get a good look at it through the fog and it didn't use any attacks."

"Ultimate level," Poromon spoke tiredly. "At least."

"I think I saw blue fur at one point," Yolei said thoughtfully.

"Who cares what it was?" Davis protested, holding his arms behind his head. "We won! Now since we can't go back, we should go find the others!"

"And where would we even start?!" Yolei yelled. "We're tired and injured, what help would we even be?"

"We'd be better than nothing!"

"Not if they had to cover for us!"

"Flamedramon is more than enough…"

"Guys!" Flamedramon protested, holding an arm between the two. "Come on, we're a team, remember? Digidestined 2.0? That ultimate ran towards the volcano, so I think that's where we should start."

"It's not like we can go home right now," Poromon agreed.

The three of them turned towards Yolei.

"I don't like it," she admitted. "But fine. Since we can't go home, it's not like we can do anything else except hide!"

"That's the spirit!" Davis grinned. "Onwards! Don't worry, Kari! We're coming to save you!"

* * *

Tai had frozen; his eyes wide and locked onto Neo's face in disbelief. Neither of them spoke after Neo's confident declaration. The wind gently blew in through the open window, disturbing the curtains and bringing with it the surprisingly faint noises of the city. Tai's breath caught inside his throat as he slowly took in the still-static digivice resting on the table.

Not dead?

How was that possible? The digivice was static - not working. No matter what buttons Tai or Sora had pushed the screen wouldn't change. Sora had been convinced that it could only mean one thing; that Biyomon was gone and with no sign of her at Primary Village she wasn't coming back. Tai had been convinced as well. The situation had almost exactly mirrored that of his last time and it had taken a bit more effort than he cared to admit to not bring up bad memories.

But this?

"A-Are you sure?" Tai dared to ask, unable to keep the naked hope out of his voice. He liked to think that he and Neo had built up something of a rapport over the years they knew each other. Neo wouldn't lie or joke with him over something like this. He knew how much something like this would hurt.

"I can't be one-hundred percent certain," Neo admitted casually, turning back to his desk where Sora's digivice was on naked display. "But it doesn't fit the pattern for the deletion of a digimon."

Neo reached out and picked up his 01 digivice. With practiced ease, he removed the outer casing and had it on display next to Sora's. Tai looked at the two devices side-by-side. Even to him it was clear that they were very similar, although the 01-device looked far more complex.

"You and your friends' digivices are without a doubt heavily based off this one," he began, casting his mind back to those times. "The markings and the inner design definitely seem to confirm that, although your newer ones are far more… basic. Huh, elegant though. It is therefore safe to base some assumptions for these new ones on how our previous 01 devices functioned."

He turned in his char to look straight at Tai, who had moved away to sit down on the bed and examine his own digivice thoughtfully.

"Back in our time, when a digimon was deleted its data would split apart and return to the digital ocean. Due to the mixing of data there, there was practically zero chance of the average digimon ever coming back like they were before."

"Yeah, sure," Tai snorted despite the seriousness of the situation. "I swear I've run into more old enemies than new ones."

"I said 'average digimon'," Neo interjected stiffly. "Nothing about anyone who could give you trouble was average."

"But things are different now," Tai said with a small smile, remembering the field of eggs, the bouncy floor and countless baby digimon that inhabited File Island. "Now digimon are reborn at Primary Village as babies. They can start again."

"Which is why it's curious that your friend's partner wasn't there," Neo said impatiently, a slight glare at Tai for interrupting. "The other possible option, of course, is that she was deleted and then had her data absorbed."

"I-I had thought of that," Tai admitted, looking down. "I couldn't bring myself to tell Sora. She'd- she's already not taking it well. I couldn't possibly tell her that Biyomon is now part of some… monster."

"Tai."

He looked back up at Neo's annoyed face.

"Shut up and let me finish," Neo said with a slight glare. "I am confident Biyomon is not dead, otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. Back when I deleted MetalGreymon, my digivice simply logged my partner's deletion and shut off. The same thing happened when you destroyed Deathmon. Both times the digivice turned off until I reconnected it to another digimon."

Here, Neo looked away.

"Most telling though, when Daemon took over Arkadimon my digivice acted as if he had merely died. It shut down and since I never reconnected it, it has stayed like that ever since. As Biyomon cannot be dead without the digivice shutting down, the only reasonable conclusion based off our current knowledge is that she isn't dead."

"So why is it showing static then?"

"Likely because the digivice can't find her. I am unsure of the exact mechanisms behind the link between you, your partners and the digivices, but it could previously be felt across both worlds, correct?"

Tai nodded.

"Yeah, my digivice has never turned itself off before," he confirmed, beginning to get what Neo was hinting at. "So, you're saying that something is blocking Sora's digivice from finding Biyomon?"

"Yes, I think it's most likely that Biyomon is near something that can block that signal, what that could be I don't know. It would take an incredibly powerful barrier to do such a thing however."

Neo picked up his tweezers and began carefully putting back together the digivices. A comfortable silence filled the room, broken up only by the metallic pitter-patter of him working.

"A barrier like the ones that the five tags were behind?" Tai suggested, remembering his first adventure. "Daemon couldn't retrieve them himself because of it."

"Hmm, something like that could probably do it," Neo admitted, cupping his chin with his hand. "If it could keep out Daemon, most certainly. Though I don't know of any such barrier, and even if I did it would probably be long gone anyhow."

Another thought soon occurred to Tai.

"What about the Dark Rings?" he wondered out loud. "What if she'd been captured by the Emperor and he's controlling her with one of the rings?"

"I wouldn't know about that, but it's definitely a possibility," Neo responded. "I don't know anything about these Dark Rings so I won't be of any use."

"You've done more than enough, Neo," Tai said smiling. "I'm sure Sora will be thrilled to know Biyomon is alive somewhere. If the Emperor has her under his control, then all we have to do is free her."

"I only hope it's that simple," Neo declared, standing up. "Things with you have a tendency to-"

 _Ring-Ring!_

Tai stopped in surprise. He fished into his inner jacket pocket and withdrew his cell phone. Neo smirked at the sight.

"Nice phone," he said, with only a hint of smugness. "It suits you."

"Yeah, yeah, rub your wealth in my face why don't ya?" Tai said, flipping his phone open. "Cheap phone is better than no phone."

Tai glared at his friend as he answered the call.

"Hello? Izzy, what's up?"

Tai frowned, standing up in alarm.

"Matt's digivice went off?! Keep him away from any computers, that's how I got sucked in last time! I'm on my way! Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid before I get there!"

He hung up.

"Sorry Neo, got to go. Something urgent has come up."

"I understand, good luck," Neo said wryly, tossing Tai Sora's digivice. "Don't do anything stupid when you get there either."

Tai caught the digivice and smirked.

"Who do you take me for?" Tai said before running down the stairs.

Neo stared after him, his slight smile slipping from his face. As the front door slammed shut, he turned towards his desk and picked up his 01 digivice. He ran his fingers deftly over the screen.

"Who indeed?"

* * *

Things were proceeding incredibly smoothly, all things considered. They were walking up a large road up the side of the volcano where the majority of the digimon seemed to be working. Iori watched as yet another contingent of guards was put to sleep by Oryxmon, with the rest watching on. Their ever-growing army of Fugamon then descended upon the sleeping digimon like vultures and began ripping off Dark Rings and shaking the freed digimon awake.

The rookies then mostly fled, running back down the path they came with barely pause for a 'thank you' to their saviours whilst the freed Fugamon would bump fists with the others, have the situation explained and then swear to help cleanse the mountain of the Emperor.

Kari practically preened at this success. She walked with her head held higher, her steps more confident and a grin that looked a lot more like her brother's than Iori had ever realised before. All the Fugamon, each about three times her height, bowed and deferred judgement to her like she was their queen, referring to her as the leader of the Digidestined.

Oryxmon couldn't hide how proud she looked of her partner; even though it was clear exhaustion was beginning to take its toll on her. She walked with her head bowed just that little bit lower after each use of her abilities, but stubborn pride prevented her from saying anything. It probably wouldn't be long before Kari noticed.

Interrupting Iori's ruminations came a cry from Kari.

"Gomamon!"

The girl and Oryxmon ran forwards as Gomamon was slowly shaken awake by one of the Fugamon.

"Wh-what? I'm awake, just napping, sir!" he said alarmed, before noticing Kari. "Huh? A human, who're you? You look familiar."

"It's me Kari, Gomamon!" Kari smiled happily. "Remember?"

The rookie's eyes practically burst out of his head.

"You're Kari? But you're huge now! You must have digivolved like twice!"

Kari and Oryxmon laughed at that.

"Hey Tk, get over here, it's Gomamon!" Kari yelled, waving over the blonde.

Iori hid a grimace. Tk had seemed even more withdrawn ever since this infiltration began. However, the sight of a friendly face seemed to cheer him up.

"Hey buddy," Tk said, smiling down at the rookie.

"Wow, you're huge as well!" Gomamon claimed, smiling up at the two. "And you look just like Matt now!"

Tk blushed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

"Well if you think I'm tall you should see Joe," he joked, before seeing the hopeful look on Gomamon's face. "Um, that's sort of why we're here actually."

The two explained the situation to him and he looked resolute.

"He's got Joe locked up here somewhere as well then?" Gomamon frowned. "He's most likely in a high security cell. I've only seen them a couple of times, but I know where they are."

"Excellent," Kari smirked, clenching her fist. "But I think we should take a break for the moment. Oryxmon needs to regain her energy. I'll let everyone know and then we'll begin our rescue attempt."

Kari turned to address the lead Fugamon and they talked briefly for a minute, before she signalled for the others to come gather round.

"We've freed a lot of you and considerably weakened the Emperor's forces here," she claimed. "It won't be long before he notices that something isn't right and begins a counter-attack. By then we'll be ready for him. So rest up and prepare to take this place back from the Emperor!"

Iori was privately relieved that they would get a break. His legs were beginning to ache from all the climbing.

"And who are you, little buddy?"

Iori turned to see Gomamon smiling curiously up at him.

"My name is Iori Hida, pleased to meet you," Iori said politely, bowing to the rookie.

"Wow, you really remind me of Joe," Gomamon smiled. "He was all stiff and polite when we first met as well. That is, when he wasn't freaking out anyway, ha-ha! Well you don't have to worry about that stuff with me. My name is Gomamon!"

"And I'm Armadillomon!" Armadillomon spoke, pointing at himself. "Don't worry, I'm doing my best to get Cody to loosen up."

"Cody?"

"It's his nickname."

"No it's not!" Iori protested.

"Ha-ha, see you're loosening up already!" Armadillomon laughed, high-fiving Gomamon.

Iori would have protested further had he not seen Tk -with Patamon on his head- skulking away from the rest of the group and head into a nearby cave. Curiosity waged war with his worry for the older boy. He had been strangely silent the entire journey.

Unsure of whether he should say anything to the older boy, Iori excused himself from the two rookies and followed after Tk.

The blonde had walked some ways into the deserted cave and sat down with his back against the side-wall.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you now?" Patamon asked, flying down from his usual perch onto Tk's knees. "You said you would."

Tk looked down at his partner.

"Yeah…"

"Why are you so sad? Everything's going great," Patamon peered up at his partner with big blue eyes.

"It's just… Kari has grown so much," Tk began, looking down at the ground. "She came up with this plan, she has the Digimental of Hope, she's so strong. What have I contributed this entire time? I've argued with everyone, been nothing but a burden… just like last time."

"Like last time?"

"I always had to be protected and even now I'm older, nothing's changed! I thought I'd grown but I'm even more useless than before!"

Tk drew in a shaky breath.

"You remember, right?" he laughed bitterly. "We were last to reach ultimate, we never really beat anybody. Puppetmon captured me and Matt had to come and save me. In Machinedramon's city whilst everyone else was fighting, all I could do was hide and look after Kari while she was ill."

He clenched his shaking fists as his face scrunched up.

"A-and I couldn't even do that! I-I promised them! I promised them I'd keep her safe and what happens? We were captured instantly! They all kept trying to protect me, you, Gatomon and even Gennai! We would have died had that thing not possessed Kari again."

"That's not true!" Patamon protested, flapping his wings to get his partner's attention. "It's not true that we never beat anybody! We beat Devimon remember? No one else could do it, not even Tai!"

"YOU DIED, PATAMON!"

Silence. Patamon stared in shock at the tracks of tears down Tk's face.

"You died right in front of me," he muttered, angrily wiping at his face. "I swore to never let you go again. I don't want to see you get hurt. I-I don't care what happens to our enemies so long as you're safe."

Patamon seemed stunned as Tk chuckled bitterly.

"It's no wonder the others don't listen to me," he continued. "What could I contribute? How could I compare to any of them? I'm just stupid."

"Tk, you're not stupid!" Patamon protested angrily, his little legs perched on Tk's shoulders as if to shake the stupid out of him. "And you're not useless!"

He looked into the blonde's eyes.

"Do you remember Puppetmon's mansion?" Patamon asked. "You were in my arms and literally vanished into thin air. I have never been more scared then I was back then, especially when I found out you had been captured by Puppetmon. But when I got there, it was you who came out of the mansion and not Puppetmon."

Patamon smiled.

"You had avoided a mega level digimon, at eight years old! With no partner, no back-up and no plan. You still pulled the wool over his eyes!" Patamon looked up at his partner with sparkling eyes. "You were so brave, you never gave up hope that we would come and get you. No one else could have managed that, not even Tai."

Tk stared wordlessly at his partner.

"Patamon…"

"Your time will come, Tk," Patamon spoke. "Just don't give up hope, don't think you're useless because you definitely are not! You did make a difference and that's something to be proud of!"

Tk smiled, more genuinely this time, and rubbed his partner's head.

"Thanks little guy."

"Hey, the little guy's no longer you anymore, Tk!" Patamon cheered.

"I was always bigger than you!"

"Not when I'm Angemon," Patamon pointed out, pushing his chest out proudly.

"But you're not Angemon right now, are you?" Tk said, poking his partner in the belly. "You're my cute little piggy."

"I'm not a pig, Tk!"

"Oink, oink."

"Tk!"

Laughter from the two of them resounded throughout the cave, as nearby Iori listened silently. He was embarrassed to say the least. He had heard something very private he shouldn't have and there was no way he could confess to the older boy about what he'd heard.

And then there was…

" _He made a difference…"_

Iori shook himself, he refused to draw parallels that weren't there. Quietly, careful to not be seen, Iori left the cave to re-join everyone else.

Kari was with Oryxmon, Gomamon, Armadillomon and what seemed to be the head Fugamon, planning everything out.

"So there's a straight pathway to the main chamber inside the volcano just a few minutes ahead," she summarised. "If Gomamon and maybe Tk with Patamon could split off about halfway they'll have a straight shot to the prison block where Joe is probably being held. The rest of us can assault the centre and ruin whatever it is the Emperor is doing."

"Yes," Fugamon said. "I know our numbers and I have to say I think we've got a majority of my boys out here rather than in there. The only thing we got to worry about is the Emperor's personal pet coming after us."

"Personal pet?" Oryxmon spoke up. "You mean Stingmon?"

The Fugamon shivered.

"I wish. That Stingmon's a daisy-chain compared to the beast the Emperor's been ordering around lately. It's an ultimate level from what I remember hearing, and a real powerful one too."

"Perhaps we should make rescuing Joe and then leaving our priority then," Oryxmon said to Kari. "If there's a chance of running into a powerful ultimate we may not survive."

Kari considered it.

"We can't just give up our home!" Fugamon argued. "My boys will fight any threat that tries to ensnare us, regardless of your support."

"We're not going to make you give up your home," Kari responded placatingly.

"Well I refuse to run," Fugamon folded his arms stubbornly.

"Your death wish," Gomamon shrugged.

"We've been forced to serve the Emperor for far too long," Fugamon explained. "There is honour in fighting to the end, but the Emperor would deny us even this by forcing us to do his bidding. We will not abandon our home!"

Kari felt a headache coming on.

"We're not going to abandon the plan," she decided. "Our current plan will divert most of the Emperor's forces away from the prison anyway. We can get Joe back and you guys can reclaim your volcano. I understand your frustration at losing your home, but well…"

Kari thought back to what her brother had said to her one innocuous day.

"…it's just that sometimes it's best to know when to run away to fight another day."

* * *

Something was wrong. The Emperor stood in the control room with Stingmon by his side. He watched as the surveillance footage and logging reports from certain sectors vanished. He sneered, this equipment was out of date and barely functioning compared to what he had at the others. The heat from the volcano was a useful energy source, but it kept interfering with his equipment. He'd even been forced to label everything clearly for the idiot digimon, even dumber than the rest somehow, that he had to use to run this place.

Honestly, if he hadn't found it here, he wouldn't have bothered with this base at all. Perhaps that's why those fools are here? To claim it for themselves?

The Emperor thought to himself. It would make sense. It would account for their random appearances throughout his kingdom. Sometimes on the outskirts and sometimes in the heart of his Empire. Were they looking for them as well?

Either way, they had somehow managed to get past his greatest servant and infiltrated his base. That would not do.

He spoke into the intercom system.

"We have intruders in sector E," he said, not bothering to keep the derision out of his voice. "All security personnel are to report to that area and deal with them!"

He turned off the intercom.

"Let's go Stingmon," he growled, angrily storming off. "As if those idiots will accomplish anything unless I'm there as well."

"Sir," Stingmon began, meekly following his partner. "I would suggest perhaps escaping whilst we can. The command base is docked and ready to leave, we've already got what we came for and you're always complaining about what a waste of effort this place is."

"Run away?!" the Emperor yelled, spinning to face the much larger digimon. "You mean let them win?! I'll…"

The Emperor froze. Suddenly, a smile crept its way across his face, making Stingmon very nervous.

"Master?"

The Emperor spun around back towards the console and began typing.

"My guards are too inept to do their jobs; these children want to interfere with my plans and even my greatest servant was unable to catch them. These fools want this place? They're welcome to it! Disable the generators diverting the magma and this volcano will erupt and destroy this entire base."

"M-master, but that'll kill them all."

"Then they'd better run quickly," the Emperor smirked as he finished. "We have what we came for anyway. The base here was just a bonus, but to be honest who wants a barren wasteland as a kingdom?"

"But we haven't recalled the hunting parties yet," Stingmon pointed out. "They'll all be killed as well!"

"As if I care," the Emperor turned to leave. "This will show them all that any sort of failure, no matter how high up you may seem, will not be tolerated."

He fixed the champion with a look.

"Remember that well, Stingmon."

The champion froze, unwilling to comprehend his partner's words.

"Let's go, Stingmon," the Emperor continued impatiently. "The mobile base won't leave on its own."

The champion looked torn between following his partner and the console. He spared one last glance at the monitors before bowing his head.

"Y-yes master."

* * *

"Mystic Bell!" Oryxmon cried out.

The rhythmic gonging sound resonated down the cave system. Even with her hands over her ears, Kari could tell the attack was much weaker than before. Unfortunately, so could the two mind-controlled Fugamon guards rushing towards them. The two didn't even slow down as the sound washed over them, charging straight at the Chosen.

"Missile Storm!"

Over their heads, a barrage of missiles struck the two, blowing them clear off their feet and leaving them down for the count.

"Good work, Pteramon," Iori congratulated his partner.

"I don't think I have any more in me, Kari," Oryxmon panted, clearly sweating. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Oryxmon," Kari said reassuringly. "You did fantastic!"

A salve of missiles was fired at the oncoming horde of brainwashed Fugamon. The attack softened the ranks enough for their own horde to charge. Kari withheld a wince as the two sides collided against one another like a continuous train wreck. It also helped that the Fugamon who had their rings destroyed during the fight didn't question their situation at all and immediately started clubbing their former brothers with considerable gusto.

It was rather disturbing how eager the Fugamon were to fight their own brainwashed brethren. Maybe it was a digimon thing?

Either way, the main force was now taking centre stage and with support from Oryxmon and Pteramon, they were carving their way through the dwindling defenders with little trouble. Kari and Iori were at the back, following their forces as they made their way deeper and deeper into the volcano.

The head Fugamon would occasionally appear to give updates to Kari, but the situation didn't change significantly; a fact that worried her.

'The Emperor knows we're here now,' she reasoned. 'Why is he giving so much ground?'

Tk and Gomamon had split off a while ago to try and grab Joe. It was their job to make as much noise as possible to draw his forces here.

So, where was he?

They were coming up to the main chamber. She had been warned that it was a massive hollowed out cavern inside the mountain, but such a simple description didn't do it justice.

It was enormous. Stretching far, both down and up, with a red glow from below signifying the magma bubbling stories and stories below them. Far above lay the top of the volcano. Open to the air, Kari could see the dark and overcast sky. A huge spiral staircase, wide enough to fit several Greymon side-by-side descended downwards into the depths along the wall. Numerous other openings in the walls, some attached to metal walkways, others smaller stone staircases like the one she was on.

All the staircases lead down to a main platform made entirely of rock where she could see the Fugamon fighting the last remnants of the Emperor's forces…

And that's when she caught sight of it.

"By the Great One…" Oryxmon murmured.

It was a titanic Control Spire.

It must have been nearly as tall as the volcano itself. Great massive pipes, themselves the size of apartment buildings had burst out of it and slammed into the walls of the volcano. A great network of black steel and piping was exchanged between it, the magma it was situated on top of and the rock walls. The glow from the magma far below seemed to reflect off it, bathing the entire cavern in a dull, grey light.

"It's not finished," Pteramon noticed.

Kari took a second glance and after getting over the sheer size of the thing, it was clear to see. Large sections of it were nothing but scaffolding clumsily netted together.

"So do we take it down?" Pteramon asked.

"If you've got any ideas on how we'd do that, we're all ears," Oryxmon said dryly.

"It's disgusting," Kari spat out. "We need to do something."

"Kari, there's no way we can take that down," Oryxmon protested. "It's far too large."

 _CRASH!_

"What was that?" Iori asked.

"It came from below!" Pteramon realised.

A horrible roar echoed off the walls as they realised that far below them, something had just burst into the central chamber. The Fugamon screamed as several of them were blown away by a single swipe of the monster's claws.

"It can't be…" Oryxmon murmured, looking horrified.

"Why-what is it?" Pteramon asked. "I can't see through the smoke."

"No…" Kari whispered, eyes wide as she recognised the figure. "You mean it's…"

"Wolf Claw!"

A burst of red energy and scores of Fugamon burst into data, leaving only a handful still alive.

"We've got to help them," Iori yelled. "They're getting massacred!"

Another scream was cut short from below as several more Fugamon were deleted. Kari and Oryxmon could only watch in shock as WereGarurumon stood up at his full height, the cracked remains of a Dark Spiral on his forearm.

* * *

"JOE!" Gomamon cried out, slamming into his partner hard enough to knock him down.

"Gomamon!" Joe wheezed, smiling despite the pain and clutching at his partner like he might disappear into smoke at any moment. "You're actually here!"

"Joe, you're ok! You're huge now!"

Joe laughed as Tk with Patamon and two Fugamon caught up.

"Why do you guys all point that out?"

"Hey Joe," Tk greeted. "It's good to see you."

"Likewise," Joe answered, standing up. "I guess these guys are on our side?"

"Yeah," Tk responded. "There's another quicker way to the central chamber from here. We're going to meet up with the others there."

"The others?" Joe asked surprised as they started to follow the Fugamon. "You guys got organised fast."

"Er well," Tk went red. "We kind of came after you without telling them."

"YOU WHAT?!" Joe yelled. "Tk, are you serious?!"

"We were worried, we didn't want to waste time!"

"So it's just you, Kari and the new guys I'm guessing?"

"Well we don't know where Davis and Yolei are," Tk admitted.

"Disaster," Joe muttered. "This is a disaster."

Suddenly, a phenomenally loud sound blurted out:

"WARNING, WARNING, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. ERUPTION DETECTED! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"

"Eruption?!" Tk screamed. "You've got to be kidding."

"The Emperor must have done something!" one of the Fugamon growled. "The volcano here hasn't erupted for years!"

"Then there might be a way to stop it!" Joe reasoned. "Do you know where some sort of control room might be?"

"It oversees the main chamber, it shouldn't take too long to get there!"

Two mind-controlled digimon suddenly burst in front of them. The Fugamon quickly brought their clubs to bare.

"Go down that way!" one of them pointed. "That should lead there! Get going!"

The four champion digimon began to brawl. Joe and Tk quickly dashed down the corridor, following their faster moving partners.

"This is insane!" Joe yelled. "Once we meet up with Kari and Iori, we're finding the others and getting out of here!"

"Understood!"

After a few minutes of running, Gomamon struck gold.

"Joe, here it is!"

They slammed the door open to find a large control station with several different monitors on the walls and a single (ludicrously decorated) chair. Beyond that was a viewing platform made of glass that looked out onto an absolutely massive chamber.

"Woah," Tk murmured, running up to the glass to examine the outside room. "This has to be the place. Look at that Control Spire, it's huge!"

"Come on, come on!" Joe yelled, trying to make sense of the controls. "'Control Spire Nexus'?! What does that mean? There's got to be a way to stop this eruption or cancel it or something! Damn, I wish Izzy was here!"

"Nexus?" Tk asked. "Like a network?"

"Wait, do you think that giant control spire is somehow connected to the other ones?!" Gomamon wondered. "If we can shut it down or destroy it then the others might stop functioning!"

"But what about the eruption?" Tk protested.

"I can't stop it," Joe answered, looking mystified at the controls. "But if the Control Spires go down then we can digivolve and get out of here!"

"Then let's get down there and help!" Patamon decided.

"Oh no," Tk whispered hands pressed against the glass, face turning white. "The others are already down there! They're fighting- is that WereGarurumon?!"

"What?!" Gomamon cried, looking down at the sight far below them. "He got Gabumon?! We were trying to rescue some rookies the Emperor had captured. I thought that when the smoke blew over us he was able to escape."

Gomamon's face scrunched up.

"I thought he got away. Damn it!"

"Smoke?" Tk asked. "Is that the stuff that came from the mountain?"

"Yeah, whatever that stuff is that the tower keeps releasing," Gomamon said. "It's definitely done something to the volcano, messed it up or something. Apparently, it never used to do anything like this."

"Wait, it releases gas?" Joe suddenly piped up.

"Yeah," Gomamon answered bitterly. "Disgusting, foul-smelling stuff. Huge amounts, enough to blow digimon clear off the mountain when he channels it out the crater at the top. I would know, I've had some close calls."

Joe's face suddenly lit up as he began working with gusto.

"Well I may not be Izzy," he said, pushing buttons and typing in commands. "But I do know one thing. If it's venting gas, then that's probably to stop an overload of pressure."

"Wait," Tk said slowly. "You mean…"

"I'm going to take down that tower," Joe smirked. "The Emperor is going to regret clearly marking which buttons control the vents!"

* * *

WereGarurumon howled as another set of missiles shot straight at him. With effortless precision, he jumped straight over them and shot forwards towards Pteramon.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon leaped straight into him, knocking the ultimate off-course.

Somersaulting in the air, the ultimate kicked off the side of the volcano to land straight back down on the platform, utterly unhurt.

Gatomon landed as well, nervously facing the ultimate. Oryxmon's Mystic Bell had been useless against the ultimate, so a smaller more agile form was preferable in this fight. Even so, the horrible heat had her panting hard and struggling just to stay alive.

From far above, Kari and Iori watched anxiously as their partners faced off against their former friend. It wasn't looking good. The only reason they hadn't lost yet was because WereGarurumon wasn't fighting intelligently. Only a couple of Fugamon were left now and that was because they were avoiding fighting the enraged ultimate directly. It probably wouldn't take much for either of their partners to be killed or knocked into the churning magma below.

Kari wanted to run down there, but it was already unbearably hot where they were to the point breathing was beginning to become difficult. Nevertheless, she'd endure it if it meant supporting her partner. Iori was taking the heat similarly hard, with sweat on his brow, frowning down in worry for his partner.

Pteramon shot higher up into the air, trying to draw WereGarurumon's attention again. There only clear-cut advantage was that the ultimate couldn't fly, so it was important they maintain it.

"Missile Storm!"

Another barrage of missiles shot towards WereGarurumon, who again leapt out of the way. Some instinct within him was forcing him to protect the remains of the Dark Spiral on his forearm.

"Wolf Claw!"

He swung his claw and sent screaming wave of red energy toward the three champions on the ground. Gatomon threw herself down as the attack passed over her with one of the Fugamon following her lead. The other raised his club in a futile attempt to block the attack. The energy snapped his club and sent him hurtling off the side of the platform and into the magma far below.

"No!" the remaining Fugamon cried out, angrily charging the ultimate.

"Don't do it!" Gatomon growled, darting forwards to try and save the idiot.

"Missile Storm!" Pteramon yelled again, trying to distract the ultimate from the charging champions.

With a roar, WereGarurumon turned towards the oncoming storm and swung his claw again. The air pressure blew the missiles back towards Pteramon. They exploded and threw him back.

Before the ultimate could turn around, Fugamon drew back his club and slammed it into the back of the ultimate's head. In an instant, the club was in WereGarurumon's iron grip and the champion was staring helplessly into the feral eyes of the ultimate.

"Lightning Paw!"

Gatomon stuck low to the ground and slammed her attack into the back of WereGarurumon's knee. He stumbled a little, distracting him long enough for Fugamon to let go of his club and leap away. Gatomon retreated as well, panting from exertion. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pteramon rise shakily back into the air.

"This is bad," Kari noted worriedly. "Gatomon can't keep this up for much longer."

"Pteramon's hurting bad," Iori added, biting his bottom lip. "You can do it, Pteramon!"

"Is it getting hotter in here?" Kari muttered. "I think it is."

Far below she could see the magma churning and bubbling away. Was it higher up than before? A horrible feeling began to settle in Kari's gut. The volcano seemed to tremble for a moment before growing still.

"The volcano's going to erupt," she gasped, wiping the sweat out of her eyes. "We've got to warn them!"

"We can't go down there!" Iori protested. "It's already too hot up here!"

"We have to do something!" Kari yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Gatomon, get out of there!"

But there wasn't anything she could do. It was already like a sauna where they were and any attempts to go further down caused her skin to burn.

'How can they stand this?' she wondered. 'A human would have long ago been cooked alive down there.'

"Kari!" a familiar voice came from above.

She looked up just in time to see a blue blur fall in front of her. Flamedramon landed gracefully, his arms full of children and Hawkmon.

"Davis!" Kari smiled, ecstatic to seem them all well.

"We're here to back you up!" Davis claimed, grinning as Flamedramon let him off.

"There's no time, the volcano is about to erupt!" Iori yelled.

"What?!"

"He's right," Kari said, quickly trying to put a damper on her relief at seeing them. "Flamedramon, we need you to tell the others down there to get out!"

"Got it!" Flamedramon growled, before leaping off the ledge and down into the fight below.

"Fire Rocket!"

A fireball slammed into WereGarurumon and knocked him off balance. He swivelled just in time to see Flamedramon join the rest of his opponents.

"About time you got here," Gatomon panted, smiling despite herself.

"Well, traffic was terrible let me tell you," Flamedramon shot back. "Woo, it's hot down here!"

"Are Davis and Yolei with you?" Gatomon asked, not daring to take her eyes off the growling ultimate in front of them.

"Yeah, I left them and Hawkmon upstairs. Listen, the volcano's about to erupt, we have to get out of here!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"I wish! I don't there's much time…"

Just then the world seemed to tilt. The giant Control Spire shuddered as pipes connected to it burst and a horrible groaning sound filled the cavern. The Spire seemed to shift a little, before it's side exploded outwards, sending shards of red-hot metal in every direction. The platform couldn't take the impact; its own metal supports began to snap and buckle along with the Spire's.

"RUN!" Flamedramon screamed as the platform began to fall.

It was insanity. Fugamon was closest to the staircase and managed to make it. Gatomon ran on all fours, moving like lightning itself as the floor beneath their feet crumbled into rock suspended briefly in air. Flamedramon ignored the brief stab of jealousy at the champion's grace and leapt for all he was worth, trying to reach the side or a railing or _something_ to stop him from falling into the magma below.

Pteramon swooped in and grabbed him with his claws.

"Oh, that was close," Flamedramon muttered, almost drunk with relief. "That-was-so-close, thank you!"

"Thank me by eating less," Pteramon joked. "Damn, Gatomon's fast, she's already up there."

Flamedramon looked down to see the giant Control Spire begin to slide into the magma below. It was so large it slammed into the side of the cavern and breaking further apart, before sinking slowly into the encroaching magma.

A shadow darted by.

"The kids!" Flamedramon yelled.

WereGarurumon had jumped as well, and was now climbing the cavern wall at a blistering pace to reach the children. A quick glance around and he could see both Fugamon and Gatomon too far away to do anything.

"Oh wolf-boy," Flamedramon smiled, as he lined up his shot. "You just made a big mistake."

This time WereGarurumon had nowhere to run.

Flamedramon took careful aim and just to be sure, packed it with as power as he could.

"Fire Rocket!"

The attack burst from his claw and slammed into the Dark Spiral on WereGarurumon's arm. There was no contest this time. What was left of the Spiral shattered and WereGarurumon froze in time.

There was the sound of glass shattering and a bewildered Flamedramon just managed to catch the unconscious Tsunomon. Flamedramon blinked in disbelief at the little in-training digimon in his arms.

"That terrifying ultimate was a little guy this whole time?!"

"Explain later!" Pteramon answered as they reached the perch where the kids were.

"We have to leave now!" Gatomon yelled, reaching the children barely a second or two behind Pteramon.

"There's not enough time!" Fugamon yelled, barely staying ahead of the rising magma.

The heat was rising far too fast. The humans were beginning to pass out.

"We've got seconds!" Pteramon roared, trying desperately to grab Iori.

"Damn it, NO!" Flamedramon turned, fighting the oncoming sleepiness with everything he had.

It was too hot, even for the armoured digimon. His vision was growing dark at the edges. The magma was rising too fast. They were… all…

Cold?

"Arctic Blizzard."

They all snapped back to reality as a wave of beautiful cold hit them. The children gasped as they slowly regained awareness and the digimon, formerly in the middle of running for their lives, stood there in shock.

The magma had been completely solidified. It looked almost frozen in time, with ice still impossibly forming on the top.

A thud.

The nine of them looked up to see a large white-furred creature standing on top of the magma with a massive morning-star strapped to its back. They craned their eyes upwards and spotted the familiar blonde boy sitting on its shoulder.

"Hey guys!" Tk greeted cheekily as Patamon waved, before shivering. "Wow, it's cold in here, huh?"

Vikemon smirked at the stunned looks on the others faces.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Frustrated silence filled the darkened room. The Emperor sat in his throne in front of the monitors, showing footage of the volcano from the Airdramon he hadn't recalled. His fists clenched as what seemed to be a wave of ice spread out from the volcano and began to topple his forest of Control Spires. He ground his teeth as Spire after useless Spire fell to the oncoming wave and shattered like glass against the ground. Within seconds the entire area, his former volcano base, looked like a damned Christmas card!

"Well, look at this way master," Stingmon said cautiously. "At least we got what we wanted."

"Shut up!" the Emperor growled.

His hands were shaking. Why were they shaking? Visions of that WarGreymon burning his entire fleet in an instant entered his head. The feeling of being utterly helpless as it walked towards him, wicked claws glinting in the sunlight.

'No, no!' he reasoned, focusing on calming his breathing. 'I am not scared. I cannot be scared!'

He buried it down. Shoved it further and further down into his mind, allowing the rage to swallow it up and sharpen his mind. These children had defeated him every encounter. It wasn't fair! There were so many of them! He would pay them back for this humiliation, no matter what it took.

The Emperor stood up from his chair and made his way down the dark metal corridors with Stingmon walking silently behind him.

"This is a temporary setback at the most," he said, walking up to a certain window overlooking a large room.

Inside, placed upon a pedestal, the chunk of ground it had been found on still clinging obstinately to its underside, lay a small silver object.

The Emperor stared directly at his prize, a lucky find from one of the enslaved digimon previously digging away at the volcano.

"After all, soon outposts like that won't even matter," he smirked, eyeing the star-like symbol emblazoned on the object. "I just need a little more time and energy…"

* * *

The humming of countless machines had grown into a strange form of comfort for Yamaki. It meant that his project, his life's goal, was still alive. It meant that people were working, progressing. Every minute they inched ever closer to their final goal.

"Sudden increase in flux, sir!"

He sat up straighter. Far above him, the two omni-directional control stations rotated and turned towards the disturbance.

"A Wild One?" he asked gruffly, trepidation and a little bit of excitement hidden in his tone.

"Readings are normal over here," the other operator declared.

Yamaki flicked his lighter.

"It's stabilising again," Riley sounded baffled. "The values are much lower than before though."

"We've never seen that before," Yamaki noted, thinking carefully.

How odd. There could be any number of explanations for this. However, they were still venturing forth into unknown territory. It wouldn't pay to underestimate these freaks if it did turn out to be some sort of trap.

"Set alert level to orange," Yamaki decided. "It could be nothing, but until we've determined a cause, be prepared for another bio-emergence."

"Yes sir," both operators said, already typing away.

Yamaki flipped his lighter closed and looked up at the ceiling of his creation, as if he could speak with the countless unimaginable horrors that lurked just out of sight.

'What exactly are you all planning?'

* * *

Vikemon trudged onwards through the now snow-covered land. Gomamon knew the location of another TV, only slightly further away than the one that they had entered through, so they were making their way towards it.

Tk, Kari and their partners sat on the mega's shoulders, happily chatting away with him and each other. Gatomon was curled up, asleep in the fur, with Patamon sitting on top of Vikemon's head to get a better view. Tk cradled the still unconscious Tsunomon in his arms, being careful not to jostle the little guy too much. They had left Fugamon behind in the volcano, with some hasty assurances his home would be back to normal once all the snow and ice had melted.

Behind them, the new chosen had elected to walk. They silently took in the sights of the now-frozen wasteland. Davis, Yolei and Iori walked slowly, each carrying their exhausted partner's in-training forms.

Yolei stared dumbstruck at the sights of the toppled and buried Control Spires all around them in every direction.

"Each time I see it, it just gets more unbelievable," she muttered.

"Huh?" Davis looked at her. "See what?"

Yolei frowned.

"See the older kids in action," she finished.

"Yeah, I know, right?!" Davis cheered. "They're really awesome! I mean look at all of this! We could have a snowball fight for like weeks!"

"I don't think that's what she's getting at, Davis," Iori stated, looking at the sleeping Upamon in his arms.

"What else could she be getting at?"

"I mean, just look at all this," Yolei said, gesturing with her free hand. "We were in the middle of a volcano and he just… froze it!"

"Yeah, so?"

"Then when we came out, he just blew away all the Control Spires as well."

"Right."

"It's just- I never realised how strong they all are," Yolei said, eyeing the back of the large mega in front of them. "We really can't compare."

"It's no wonder they don't take us seriously," Iori agreed. "If they're all capable of something like this. Imagine what a fight between two mega digimon must look like."

All three of them were silent at the thought.

'How bad must the fights they were in that they needed six creatures like this just to survive?' Iori thought to himself.

The thought of having to face such monsters as what the older kids had gone up against sent shivers down his spine.

"I mean," Yolei continued. "The whole fusing with your partner thing is pretty weird as well, right? How does that even work?! They're made of data, aren't they? I'm pretty sure we're not! How can they combine together?"

"Who cares how?!" Davis protested, looking down at the sleeping DemiVeemon in his arms. "All I know is it's awesome! I wonder what sort of powers me and DemiVeemon will get. I bet we get to shoot lasers from our hands! Or maybe we get a massive sword?!"

"Nothing slows you down, huh?" Yolei sighed.

"There's a huge amount of responsibility that comes with this kind of power, Davis," Iori pointed out. "Not just anyone should be able to have access to it."

Davis snorted.

"It's not like I'm gonna go on a rampage or anything," he said. "It's like being a superhero, right? You've just got to defend the digital world from assholes like the Emperor and that's it!"

"If you say so," Iori muttered, looking towards Vikemon's back.

Thoughts of the Ice Wall and the invasion of Odaiba entered his mind. Reports of monsters fighting amongst the ruins, in the sky and out at sea.

Iori tightened his grip on Upamon.

He didn't want to lose anyone else.

* * *

 **A/N: There you have it! Thank you all for your reviews and your patience! Please let me know what you thought of the chapter. What was good, what was bad, etc.  
**

 **While this story isn't dead, due to a lack of free time, it will be updated slowly. Not as slowly as last time, you guys won't have to wait another year. But I am working on it, so take some solace in that.**

 **Again, thank you guys for your patience and I hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
